Critics are questioning a taxpayer-funded program that trains students in critical race theory.
The backlash comes after The Center Square uncovered federal grant documents from the Department of Education that showed the federal government has awarded millions of dollars to a program that trains future educators in critical race theory.
Experts said the program disproves claims that critical race theory is not being pushed at K-12 schools.
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Last week, I dusted off my Chinese-flu soapbox and said a word or two about (cue the scary music) the Omicron variant. It sounds like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel, doesn’t it? A friend told me about a parlor game that the journalist Christopher Hitchens and his pals used to play in which the object was to contrive names for Shakespeare’s plays that sounded like the title of a Ludlum novel. Hamlet was “The Elsinore Conundrum.” I am sorry that Hitch is not still with us to try his hand at the Omicron variant.
So far, I have to say, it’s been pretty much of a dud—unless, that is, you’re the stock market, which has taken a beating this last week or so, in part because of this new kid on the medical block (there is also that much more toxic financial emergency, the Biden Administration, but that’s for another day). The new variant has also been a godsend for scolds, nags, bureaucrats, and meddlesome so-called public health officials nannies who are just itching for another excuse to lock down your world, introduce new travel restrictions, and impose new testing protocols.
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The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next week in a Maine lawsuit that challenges a state law prohibiting the use of tuition funds for religious education.
A lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice and First Liberty Institute on behalf of several Maine families seeks to overturn a state law that prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars for students to attend religious-based schools.
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The nonpartisan Cook Political Report on Friday shifted eight high-stakes gubernatorial races toward Republicans as Democrats continue to face political headwinds.
Ratings in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada, three pivotal battleground states, shifted from “Lean Democratic” to “Toss Up.” Each has a first-term Democratic incumbent — Govs. Gretchen Whitmer, Tony Evers and Steve Sisolak, respectively — fighting to win reelection in a state that President Joe Biden won by fewer than four points in 2020.
Other states that saw changes were Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, Iowa and South Carolina. While Democrats remain favorites in the first three, Cook noted, the ratings in Iowa and South Carolina both moved from “Likely Republican” to “Solid Republican.”
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Lia Thomas, a swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, shattered records after transitioning from male to female and joining the women’s team.
Thomas, who is biologically male, competed for three years on the men’s team before moving to the women’s team after transitioning, the Daily Mail reported. NCAA rules require males to undergo at least one year of testosterone suppression treatment before they can compete in the women’s category.
Thomas’s top time for the 500 Free event in the male category was 4:18.72. Thomas won the 500 Free while competing against Villanova and participated in eight regular season events as a male in the 2019-2020 season.
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The Taliban banned forced marriages in a Friday decree, saying that women are free persons and not property.
“Both (women and men) should be equal,” the decree said, according to ABC News. “No one can force women to marry by coercion or pressure.”
The Taliban ordered courts to allow widows to seek the inheritance of their families and to choose who they marry after their husbands die rather than being forced to marry an in-law, ABC News reported. The Taliban reportedly seeks an end to the practice of forcing women into marriage for money or to settle disputes.
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Canadian energy firm Pembina Pipeline Corp. pulled the plug on a years-long project that would have led to greater natural gas exports from to Canada to the U.S.
The multi-billion-dollar Jordan Cove project included plans to construct a marine export terminal, which would have been the first of its kind in the continental U.S., and a 230-mile pipeline across Oregon, The Associated Press reported. The terminal would have liquefied up to 1.04 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day for export and hosted two full-containment storage tanks on site, according to previous federal permit records.
But the project, which dates back to 2004, was fiercely opposed by environmentalists while state officials created permitting roadblocks that Pembina struggled to hurdle. In 2020, the Republican-majority Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project, but the agency rescinded approval in January, upholding Oregon’s rejection of the plans.
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The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was aware that at least 10 members of its staff committed alleged sex crimes against children, though only one employee was ever prosecuted, according to released documents first reported by BuzzFeed News.
One CIA employee had “inappropriate sexual activity with an unidentified two-year-old girl” and confessed to having sexual relations with a six-year-old, according to internal CIA reports dating from 2004 to 2019 accessed by BuzzFeed through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The employee was fired but never charged.
Another employee allegedly bought pornographic films depicting young girls, while another claimed to have viewed thousands of sexually explicit images of children, according to the documents. These employees also were not charged with any crimes.
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As Benjamin Crump continues to carve out his niche in the legal arena, it is time America recognizes what’s going on. The George Floyd attorney is not a crusader for justice, he’s an opportunistic race profiteer. More sophisticated than the local ambulance chaser—but ambitious in a similarly distasteful way—he scours news reports to find examples of deadly interactions between Americans he can miscast as a racist relics of a bygone era.
In this land of possibility, everyone is free to chart his own course. But what should we make of those who seem only to want to chart a course of decrying and disparaging America?
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Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed legislation that would have allowed residents to carry a concealed firearm without a license, claiming the measure would exacerbate gun violence in the commonwealth.
“This legislation removes the requirement that an individual obtain a license, and with it, the ability of law enforcement to conduct a background investigation,” Wolf said. “Removal of the licensing background investigation will hinder the ability of law enforcement to prevent individuals who should not be able to carry a firearm concealed from doing so.
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A large group of House Republicans penned a letter to top Biden administration officials Friday, urging them not to ban U.S. crude oil exports.
The GOP lawmakers, led by Texas Reps. Roger Williams and August Pfluger, said the move would be a “catastrophic mistake” and further exacerbate high energy prices in the letter addressed to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. The congressmen noted that a previous crude oil export ban had been opposed by Democrats and Republicans alike.
“President Biden’s war on American energy continues with his Administration’s latest discussions to reinstate the export ban on crude oil, which was repealed in 2015 on a bipartisan vote,” Williams said in a statement.
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Democrats used the word “fascism” to describe Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s criticism of a journalist for his story on research conducted by the state health department on mask mandates.
“He’s attacking the press again for doing their job,” state Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, told The Center Square. “This is getting to a point where it’s beyond concerning. When the press points out something your administration is doing wrong, he turns around and attacks them and says they are criminals or liars. It’s a dangerous, dangerous road he’s going down.”
The Missouri Independent reported on Wednesday a freedom of information request found Parson’s office requested in November research from the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) on the effectiveness of masks in St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and Jackson County. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt filed lawsuits earlier this year against the municipalities because of their mask mandates.
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Emerson College is appointing Kim McLarin, an associate professor of creative writing, to serve as the institution’s interim Dean of Graduate and Professional Studies. McLarin has written a number of essays and opinion pieces in which she denigrates White people, particularly White women.
In an article she wrote for the Washington Post, McLarin expressed doubt as to whether Black women and White women could be “true friends”. A New York Times piece she authored details her experience briefly dating a White man in which she ultimately decides to end the relationship because of the man’s race. She also wrote an essay for The Morning News in which she, among other things, argues that Morgan Freeman films are part of an effort by “White America” to “remain at the center of black consciousness.”
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Some Princeton university students are pushing back after receiving a politically-charged email from a dean following the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict.
Princeton University students enrolled in the School of Public and International Affairs received a Nov. 20 email, obtained by Campus Reform, titled “Our Moral Duty” from the dean of the school, Dean Amaney Jamal.
“Last August, Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two protestors and wounded a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin. During his trial, he emotionally broke down on the stand, saying he was acting in self-defense. Today, he was acquitted of all six charges against him, including three of which were homicide related,” the email read.
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The 2021-2022 academic college year is nearing completion. Students have quickly forgotten the early apprehensions associated with dorm and housing arrangements, parking permits, class scheduling, and connecting and reconnecting with peers on campus. Winter break has nearly arrived on campus. But college students across the United States should not forget that Antifa will not be taking a winter break. Their agenda continues to oppose college students seeking knowledge and skill acquisition, job market competitiveness, and related material and social benefits critically important to the “pursuit of happiness.” These self-professed “anti-Fascists” have planned to do much more than just continue normal operations.
In fact, through publications like CrimethInc (formerly Inside Front) Antifa has boldly asserted that violence, subversion, demoralization, and corruption will be their primary objectives for the academic year. Empowered by increased funds, new recruits, tactical experience, optimism created by victories won in battles on and off college grounds, and a permissive environment created by an increasingly politicized and defanged police force, these radical socialists are now calling for nothing less than a total undermining of the college system through “an effort to infiltrate and undermine the institutions of power from within.”
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Minnesota schools are struggling with an increase in student violence, yet Gov. Tim Walz’s Department of Education (MDE) lobbied against a measure to quell the chaos.
Rochester schools are “taken over with violence,” a fight between students at Hopkins High School recently left three staff members with injuries, and ISD 728 is accused of not cracking down on student-on-student sexual abuse. Meanwhile, Rochester is banning parents who don’t wear masks from school grounds for a year, a St. Louis Park Catholic school has rolled out a new “social justice algebra” class, and some other schools are moving back to “distance learning.” Critics say that spending time and money on initiatives like these distracts from what schools should be focused on: stopping classroom violence.
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