The current unpopularity of mask mandates in American school districts has not stopped mask advocates from promoting their return as a COVID-19 mitigation measure, but the research used to justify mandates is facing expanded scrutiny.
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CatholicVote, a Catholic advocacy organization, released a seven-figure ad campaign Wednesday targeting President Joe Biden for failing to protect Catholic churches and pregnancy resource centers from escalating attacks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
There have been 64 incidents against pro-life organizations and 69 against Catholic churches since the court’s decision to overturn Roe was leaked May 2, according to CatholicVote. The ad shows a clip of Biden, who is Catholic, encouraging pro-abortion protesters alongside a video of John F. Kennedy, America’s only other Catholic president, condemning attacks on churches.
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A religious organization in Oakland, California, that celebrates controlled psychedelic mushrooms and marijuana use is suing the city, the police department and one of its officers for allegedly violating its First- and 14th-Amendment rights in connection with a 2020 raid that seized substances from its building, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Oakland police raided Zide Door Church of Entheogenic Plants that year, taking cash and roughly $200,000 in mushrooms and cannabis following claims it was running an unpermitted cannabis dispensary, the outlet reported. The church is accusing authorities and one particular officer of discriminating against its religious beliefs.
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Earlier this summer, the CO2 Coalition was banished from LinkedIn. The CO2 Coalition, with only three full-time employees and an annual budget of under $1 million, had committed the unpardonable sin of sharing contrarian perspectives on climate science. Its work, produced by a network of volunteers that includes dozens of distinguished scientists, offers indispensable balance on a topic that requires honest debate now more than ever.
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A school district near Fort Worth, Texas is having staff remove and review dozens of books that were challenged last year, including the Bible and a graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary.
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Some companies owned by wealthy celebrities that received millions from the government-funded Paycheck Protection Program, intend to help small businesses survive the pandemic, will reportedly not have to repay the money.
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Last year, the Roman Catholic Jesuit Order vowed to raise $100 million to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves whom the order used, bought, or sold but so far, it has raised only a fraction of its target figure.
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In early July, three Christian churches in Bethesda, Maryland, were set on fire and vandalized over a 24-hour period.
At North Bethesda United Methodist Church, small fires were lit, the church’s fellowship hall and food pantry were damaged, and donations were destroyed.
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The Democrats’ massive climate spending package, which President Joe Biden signed into law on Tuesday, will give over $40 billion to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), just as the bill allocates almost $80 billion to expand the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
The bill, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, includes $369 billion in total climate spending, and will give the EPA more than $40 billion in the current fiscal year to combat climate change, enforce environmental standards and secure “environmental justice,” according to a Congressional Research Service report. The EPA’s enacted budget for 2022’s fiscal year was about $9.5 billion, according to the agency figures, meaning the bill will more than quadruple the EPA’s current annual spending.
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