Category: Culture

Iraq Summons U.S. Ambassador over State Department Comments on Treatment of Catholic Priest

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The Iraqi government called U.S. Ambassador Alina Romanowski to Baghdad after the State Department made critical remarks about the government’s dismissal of a Vatican-appointed bishop, according to Reuters.

Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid recently rescinded a decree recognizing Cardinal Louis Sako the head of the Chaldean Catholic church in Iraq and all of its assets, claiming that no other state entity should appoint religious leaders in Iraq, according to Reuters. Rashid called Romanowski to Baghdad Wednesday after  State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the U.S. was disturbed by the Iraqi government’s decision.

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Senators Criticize CDC for ‘Chestfeeding’ Guidance: ‘Driven by Political Considerations Rather than Science’

Susan Berry, PhD

U.S. Senators Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) wrote Tuesday to Mandy Cohen, M.D., the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), demanding answers for the health agency’s recent guidance on transgender ‘chestfeeding,” a practice, the senators say, that poses health and safety risks for newborns.

The senators, both physicians, highlighted in the letter their “serious concern” regarding CDC’s “guidance for “biological men who identify as women (transgender individual) who wish to breastfeed.”

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Republican Lawmakers Pitch Constitutional Amendment to Keep Wisconsin Churches Open

The Center Square

Wisconsin Republicans want to make sure churches in the state are kept open during the next emergency.

State Sen Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, along with Rep. Ty Bodden, R-Hilbert, and Rep. Karen Hurd, R-Fall Creek, took a proposed constitutional amendment to a Senate committee on Tuesday. If the amendment becomes law, it would stop public health managers from closing churches.

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Louisiana Legislature Votes to Override Governor’s Veto of Bill Protecting Minors from Transgender Drugs and Surgeries

Susan Berry, PhD

The Republican-led Louisiana House and Senate voted Tuesday to override Gov. John Bel Edwards’ (D) veto of a bill that would prohibit minors with gender dysphoria from obtaining life-altering transgender hormone drugs and surgeries.

The “historic” vote is only the third time a veto session ended in a single day with Republican lawmakers striking down Edwards’ veto on just one bill, Nola reported.

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House Democrat Bill Would Scrub ‘Husband’ and ‘Wife’ from Federal Law

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A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Democrats would eliminate the use of the words “husband” and “wife” in federal laws, instead replacing them with genderless terms like “spouse.”

As reported by Fox News, the “Amend the Code for Marriage Equality Act” was introduced by Congresswoman Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), and would change many existing laws by removing “husband” and “wife” from pre-existing text. Instead, the new law would replace these words with phrases such as “a married couple,” “married person,” and “person who has been, but is no longer, married to’.”

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‘The Chosen’ Granted First Exemption Waiver to Continue Filming Fourth Season amid SAG-AFTRA Strike

Susan Berry, PhD

Faith-based television series The Chosen has been granted the first known exemption waiver to continue filming amid the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union strike primarily due to its crowdsourced funding and independent production.

The blockbuster series about the ministry of Jesus as seen through the eyes of his disciples is in the midst of filming its fourth season in Utah, Deadline reported Monday.

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Pima County Republicans Join Parents Protesting Tucson Drag Queen Story Hour

Tom Pappert

Members of the Pima County Republican Party joined a local church’s protest against a drag queen story hour held at a Tucson book store, receiving public support from an Arizona state senator who passed a bill to restrict children’s access to adult entertainment venues only to have it vetoed by Governor Katie Hobbs.

Tucson parents and members of The Bridge Church were joined by members of the Pima County Republican Party on Sunday to protest a drag queen story hour held at Bookmans, who called the event one of its “most popular childhood literacy events” in its promotional materials. This drag queen story hour appears to have been postponed since March, when the store blamed a “harassment campaign” that was “spearheaded by The Bridge Church” and controversial conservative men’s group the Proud Boys for sparking security concerns.

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Iowa Judge Temporarily Blocks State’s Newly Signed Heartbeat Abortion Ban

Susan Berry, PhD

Unborn babies up to 20 weeks’ gestation are once again able to be aborted in Iowa after a judge temporarily blocked the state’s new Heartbeat Protection Act which Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed into law on Friday.

As the measure was signed into law, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Planned Parenthood North Central States, and the Emma Goldman Clinic filed a legal challenge against its enforcement.

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Wisconsin Constitutional Amendment Would Ban Places of Worship from Closing During States of Emergency

Susan Berry, PhD

A proposed amendment to the Wisconsin constitution that would clarify that state and local officials “may not order the closure of or forbid gatherings in places of worship,” in response to a state of emergency declared at any level of government during a public health emergency, will go before a state Senate committee Tuesday.

State Republican lawmakers introduced the Senate Joint Resolution 54 in June in response to the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown order that restricted worship gatherings, even though the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down that order.

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Commentary: There is a Good Reason Why Democrats are so Frightened of ‘Moms for Liberty’

Admin

For most Americans, “Mom” evokes images of kindness, courage, sympathy and love. Likewise, “liberty” calls up concepts like individual rights, freedom of expression, equality and justice. Yet, the perversity of the current political environment is such that a parental rights group whose name combines these two words has been demonized by Democrats, the corporate media and the reactionary left. Just recently, a New Hampshire Democrat denounced the group as “Assholes with casseroles,” the Hill ran a story titled, “Six reasons why Moms for Liberty is an extremist organization,” and the Southern Poverty Law Center added them to its Hate Map.

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Commentary: Hong Kong – at China’s Direction – Offers $1 Million Bounties for Dissidents Abroad

RealClearWire

The government of Hong Kong is offering a bounty of up to $1 million to anyone who can help find eight activists who fled to other countries and continue to fight against its authoritarian government.

I am not one of the eight, but all of us who fight for democracy in Hong Kong are in danger from a Chinese government that is chasing us for showing that it has broken its promises to keep Hong Kong a vibrant and free city-state.

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Public Library Moves Sexually Explicit Book to Adult Section After Community Backlash

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A New Jersey public library moved a pornographic book out of its young adult section following community backlash, according to Northjersey.com.

Cedar Grove Public Library displayed “Gender Queer,” a book that contains cartoon images of masturbation and oral sex, as a part of its Pride display in June where it was available to children, according to Northjersey.com. Following community pushback to the display, the library took the book off the Pride exhibit and moved it from the young adult section to the adult section.

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Angel Studios’ ‘Sound of Freedom’ Projecting to Cross $100 Million in Box Office Revenue

Susan Berry, PhD

Crowdfund platform Angel Studios announced Sunday its July cumulative-to-date box office revenue for its true-life child trafficking thriller Sound of Freedom is projected to be over $85 million through Sunday with the anticipation of crossing the $100 million mark this week.

Angel Studios, which has also distributed the blockbuster faith series The Chosen, said Sound of Freedom, driven by its star Jim Caviezel, showed a $27 million box office draw in the second week of the film’s release in America since it opened July 4, and earned the top spot at the box office with the help of its Pay It Forward fans.

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University Slaps Trigger Warning on Hemingway’s ‘Old Man and the Sea’ over ‘Graphic Fishing Scenes’

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A university in a prominent Scottish fishing sector cautions its students that a classic Ernest Hemingway novel contains “graphic fishing scenes” that may upset some readers.

Students at the University of the Highlands and Islands are informed prior to their reading assignment that “The Old Man and the Sea” includes descriptive fishing passages, reported the Daily Mail, which obtained a copy of the warning through a public records act request.

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Cycling Officials Boot Men from Competing in Women’s Division

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The International Cycling Union (UCI), the world cycling governing body, announced Friday that it will bar biological males who transition after puberty from competing in the women’s division, the Associated Press reported.

Recent public outcry over transgender athlete Austin Killips, the first openly transgender athlete to win a U.S. race in the female division, prompted the cycling officials to review the transgender athlete policy and ban males from the woman’s division.

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Maine Governor Signs Bill Allowing Teenagers to Obtain Cross-Sex Hormones Without Parental Consent

Susan Berry, PhD

Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) signed into law legislation this week that eliminates the requirement of parental consent for 16-17-year-old minors to be provided cross-sex hormones to change their physical appearance to correspond to their gender identity at a given point in time.

L.D. 535, titled an Act Regarding Consent for Gender-affirming Hormone Therapy for Certain Minors, states “a health care professional may provide gender-affirming hormone therapy and follow-up care to a minor without obtaining the consent of the parent or guardian of the minor,” with the requirements being that the minor is at least 16 years old; has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria; has been judged by a healthcare professional to be experiencing “harm” from not obtaining cross-sex hormones; and the minor’s parents do not support the hormone treatment.

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Watchdog Group Reports on Ohio State University College of Medicine ‘Anti-Racism’ DEI Practices Post-Supreme Court Decision

Susan Berry, PhD

A comprehensive report by an organization that seeks to protect health care from discriminatory ideology has published a report that finds Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine is steeped in teaching medicine through the lens of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda, and notes the school will need to examine its admissions processes to align with the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action ruling.

The report, by Do No Harm, is released in the wake of the Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, which struck down affirmative action policies in school admissions.

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Children’s Hospital Agreed to Pay Employee to Give ‘Drag Performance’ to School Kids

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A Chicago children’s hospital agreed to pay one of its employees to give a drag performance at a public school event for students, according to documents obtained through a public records request by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago paid Chicago Public Schools (CPS) $500 to cover the cost of a drag performance by one of their health educators at a school resource fair, according to documents obtained by the DCNF. The funds covered a drag performance by Jose Dominguez Magdaleno at the school district’s May “Galaxy Summit.” The summit featured art, workshops and performances in an effort to create “affirming spaces to celebrate and learn about the diversity of [the] CPS community.”

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Angel Studios Celebrates ‘Over 450 New Theaters Added’ for ‘Sound of Freedom’

Susan Berry, PhD

The platform and studio that distributes the popular crowdfunded thriller Sound of Freedom has announced that “over 450 new theaters have been added for the film’s upcoming weekend” showings despite “rumors” spread on social media that claim AMC theaters are making it difficult for fans to see the film in their local theaters.

“We understand there are rumors—predominantly in social media—that AMC theaters have made it difficult for fans to see Sound of Freedom in local AMC theaters, and we want to make it clear these rumors are not accurate,” Brandon Purdie, head of Angel Theatrical Distribution, said in a press statement Thursday. “AMC has been an outstanding partner for Angel Studios, and in fact, as a result of the movie’s performance and consumer demand, AMC has agreed to add additional screens for Sound of Freedom this weekend.”

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Wisconsin Lawmakers Introduce Save Women’s Sports Act,’ Dems Cry Discrimination

M.D. Kittle

Two Badger State Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation that would keep biological males who identify as female from competing in K-12 and collegiate sports in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Legislative Transgender Parent and Non-Binary Advocacy Caucus is crying foul, asserting the legislation is discriminatory and detrimental to the youth trans community.

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Chris Rufo Reveals How Transgender Movement Has Been Allowed to Invade American Life and Culture

Susan Berry, PhD

Author and journalist Chris Rufo presents The Transgender Empire, a new video about the evolution of the transgender movement and its political mission to change American culture forever.

In the video, sponsored by the Manhattan Institute, Rufo details how the transgender movement has taken hold of American life via LGBTQ activist teachers, who have transformed classrooms into propaganda mills, social media influencers, and a predatory transgender medicine industry.

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Omar Says There’s ‘No Way in Hell’ She Will Attend Israeli President’s Congressional Address

Just the News

Rep. Ilhan Omar says there is “no way in hell” that she will attend Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s joint address to Congress and that he should not even be invited to speak.

“There is no way in hell I am attending the joint session address from a President whose country has banned me and denied @RashidaTlaib the ability to see her grandma,” Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, tweeted Wednesday.

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Commentary: America for Sale

Admin

The dollar’s status as the sole transaction and reserve currency of the world gives America’s federal government unique privileges. International demand for dollars enables federal budget deficits. It also creates an incentive for trade deficits, because incoming investments effectively collateralize American currency. To perpetuate this multi-decade debt binge, America’s real estate and corporate assets are for sale to any foreign investor with surplus dollars.

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Florida Legislative Watchdog Says Human Trafficking Numbers Were Down in 2022

The Center Square

The Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability released its 2022 report on the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Florida and it says that numbers were slightly lower than in 2021.

A total of 354 youths were verified as being victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation in Florida in 2022. This was slightly lower than in 2021, with 379 youth identified as victims of exploitation.

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Iowans See ‘Humanity of Unborn Children with Beating Hearts’ as Legislature Passes Heartbeat Bill

Susan Berry, PhD

Iowa lawmakers passed the Heartbeat Protection Act in a special session Tuesday night, leading one pro-life representative to say, “Iowans recognize the humanity of unborn children with beating hearts and won’t rest until they are protected.”

“Today, the Iowa legislature once again voted to protect life and end abortion at a heartbeat, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother,” Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced Tuesday following the legislature’s approval of the measure.

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Planned Parenthood in Minnesota Offers $150 Gift Card to Teens to Attend Sex Ed Summer Camp

Susan Berry, PhD

Abortion and transgender hormone giant Planned Parenthood is drawing teens to its “Sex Ed Summer Camp” in late July with the promise of a $150 gift card to those who complete the program.

“Sex Ed Summer Camp is a sexual health peer education certification program,” Planned Parenthood states about its camp for 15-18 year-olds to be held July 24-28 in Mankato, Minnesota. “Participants will use knowledge they learn to educate friends and peers. Topics covered include sexual anatomy, birth control methods, sexually transmitted infections, healthy relationships and consent, and more!”

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A Retweet of Hunter Biden Photos Does Not Appear to Violate Arizona’s Revenge Porn Law, State Senate President Says

Rachel Alexander

State Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) came under criticism for retweeting a video clip that contained a few blurred-out photos of Hunter Biden engaging in sexual acts. The video accompanied a tweet stating that there are 459 crimes related to the Biden family. 

However, the tweet didn’t appear to violate Arizona’s revenge porn law, because Rogers lacked intent since she didn’t realize the clip contained the photos. She deleted the tweet as soon as she was told the photos were in there. In April 2021, Fox News showed a clip containing a blurred-out photo of Hunter engaging in a sex act with two women. There has been no report of a lawsuit or prosecution. 

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GOP Senators Urge FBI, DOJ to Investigate Chinese Intel-Linked ‘Service Centers’ in U.S. Cities

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Eight Republican senators urged the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday to immediately investigate a network of Chinese Communist Party-linked “service centers” operating in several U.S. cities.

A CCP “intelligence service” called the United Front Work Department (UFWD) runs so-called “Overseas Chinese Service Centers” (OCSCs) from within at least seven U.S. nonprofits, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation recently revealed. Launched between 2014 and 2017, the U.S. OCSCs are located in San Francisco, California; St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Louis, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; Charlotte, North Carolina; Houston, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah, according to Chinese state-media reports.

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Pro-Life Law Firm Urges Federal Appeals Court to Uphold Right of Unborn Children to Emergency Medical Care

Susan Berry, PhD

A leading national pro-life law firm has filed an amicus brief with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing the Biden administration’s “guidance” to hospitals that “reminds” them of their “obligation” to provide abortions in states where the procedure is illegal is an incorrect interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).

In a press statement Friday, Life Legal explained that after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, “Democrats were determined to find ways to prevent pro-life states from protecting babies in the womb.”

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Watchdog Files Complaint over Concerns on Top Air Force Gen. Brown’s Diversity Hire Priorities

Just the News

A top U.S. Air Force official is making hiring decisions based on race and ideology, in possible violation of the U.S. Constitution, according to a complaint filed Monday by a nonprofit watchdog.

The complaint is being filed by the American Accountability Foundation is in response to public comments made by Air Force chief of staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown about his hiring policies.

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Commentary: The Left Fights Against Children, We Must Continue to Fight FOR Them

Admin

The Marxist Left, dedicated to undermining the liberties, traditions, and values that make America unique and exceptional, is waging a war on children – both born and unborn – in the United States and even right here in Tennessee.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marxist Left fought to keep schools shuttered and to forcibly mask our kids, resulting in an anxious, confused, and undereducated generation.

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Commentary: Bidens Do the Crime, But Not the Time

Admin

The family that skates together stays together.

The influence-peddling, money laundering, and foreign shakedowns encircling Hunter Biden, his uncle Jim, and The Big Guy in the Oval Office have received considerable attention, at least in the conservative media. But even Fox News addicts would be stunned ​by how many Bidens have T-boned into the law and ​waltzed away from the wreckage. The Biden family is an ongoing crime spree in which the word “consequences” might as well be in Swahili.

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Large Study Links Heavy Marijuana Use to Psychotic Symptoms, Bipolar Disorder, Depression

Admin

Cannabis use disorder, also known as marijuana addiction, was strongly tied to psychiatric problems, including psychotic symptoms and bipolar disorder, in a population-based study of Danish citizens’ medical records from 1995 to 2021.

The study, which analyzed data of about 6.6 million people aged 16 and up, was conducted by Dr. Oskar Hougaard Jefsen of Aarhus University and his colleagues. Individuals with prior diagnoses of cannabis use disorder were up to four times as likely to be diagnosed later on with bipolar disorder and psychotic symptoms, the study found.

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Americans Move to Red and Blue States as Polarization Deepens

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As political polarization is on the rise in the United States, Americans are increasingly moving to either deep-red states or deep-blue states in order to live among others who share their political beliefs.

According to the Associated Press, 48 out of the 50 states have one party in control of their state legislature. In 28 of these states, the party in control has a veto-proof supermajority in at least one chamber. As a result, Republican-controlled states are implementing more conservative policies while Democratically-controlled states enact more left-wing policies.

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Commentary: Societies That Surrender Moral Foundation Historically Self-Destruct

Admin

Despite its origins in the historic Stonewall Riots of 1969, “Pride Month,” which concluded last week, has devolved into a manifestation of moral decay in 2023.

The proliferation of the transgenderism movement, fueled by Marxist ideologies, within our public education system is concerning enough. However, the decision to dedicate an entire month to celebrate moral degradation is a step too far. While I am not advanced in years, I never envisioned a day where transvestites would lecture us on human biology, or sterilizers would pose as health professionals advocating for human rights. It seems that our nation has descended into a state of utter madness, where men can now claim pregnancy and the number of genders rivals the alphabet.

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Poll: Number of Americans Who Fear They Will Not Reach the American Dream Is on the Rise

Admin

In a recent survey, a rising number of Americans say that they do not think they will ever achieve the American Dream.

As reported by the New York Post, the poll by NORC – University of Chicago saw 75 percent of overall respondents say that they felt they had either achieved the Dream or were on their way to achieving it. However, 24 percent said that they feel the Dream is out of their reach, and that America is no longer the “land of opportunity.” In the previous year’s poll, only 18 percent shared this sentiment.

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Exclusive: Inside Source Details Extreme Messaging from Far-Left Planning Session

Peter D'Abrosca

An inside source Friday provided The Tennessee Star with more details from a June 28 meeting hosted by radical members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in Nashville. 

Earlier this week, The Star reported on the event, where an inside source provided secretly obtained audio recordings from a portion of the meeting. But what was not caught on audio, the source explained, was far more radical than what was caught on audio. 

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Nation’s Largest Teachers’ Union Vows to Embrace Radical LGBTQ Agenda in Government Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

Delegates at the National Education Association’s (NEA) annual representative assembly in Orlando, Florida, passed a measure this week that pledges the union will organize against what it perceives as anti-LGBTQ legislation and so-called “book banning,” as it also bolsters protections for LGBTQ teachers.

The measure addresses “the prevalence of discrimination and violence targeted” at LGBTQ individuals, reported Education Week, and includes “mobilizing against legislative attacks, providing professional development on LGBTQ+ issues for educators, and strengthening contract protections for LGBTQ+ educators.”

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Constitutional Law Center Urges over 150 Medical Schools to End Race-Based Admissions Following Supreme Court Decision

Susan Berry, PhD

A nonprofit law center whose mission is to defend the constitutional rights of Americans has sent a letter to more than 150 medical schools throughout the country, calling upon them to end their race-based admissions policies in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down affirmative action.

Liberty Justice Center, which won a major victory for First Amendment rights in June 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that non-union government workers cannot be required to pay union fees as a condition of working in public service, has now announced efforts to inform the schools of their “legal obligation to end race-based admissions policies” in response to the Court’s recent ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. 

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