Catholic Bishop Fatally Shot in California

A Los Angeles Archdiocese auxiliary bishop known as a “peacemaker” was shot to death Saturday afternoon, officials said.

Bishop David O’Connell, a 69-year-old native of Ireland, was shot and killed Saturday just before 1 p.m. local time inside his home in the neighborhood of Hacienda Heights, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said.

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Supreme Court Cancels Arguments for Health Measure Limiting Illegal Immigration

The Supreme Court has removed arguments from its calendar for a highly anticipated case on Title 42, a COVID-19 public health measure allowing Border Patrol to quickly expel some illegal aliens. The case was going to be heard March 1.   

The Supreme Court announced Thursday that the case had been removed from its argument calendar. The high court did not provide an explanation as to why the justices would no longer hear arguments for the case, but it seems likely related to the Biden administration’s plan to officially end the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11.

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Kentucky Supreme Court Upholds Two Pro-Life State Laws

The Kentucky Supreme Court this week refused to strike down two major pro-life laws in the state, leaving them in place but sending one back to lower courts for further consideration. 

Abortion providers argued that the state’s heartbeat bill and trigger ban violated the constitutional rights of those seeking abortion there. The court said in its ruling that abortion providers “do not have third-party standing to assert the constitutional rights of their patients.”

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Unearthed Emails Show Rachel Levine Discussing ‘Potential Revenue’ from Child Sex Change Procedures

Rachel Levine, who is now assistant secretary for health in the Biden administration, discussed the potential revenue that could be generated by a gender clinic social worker who could advocate for child sex change procedures in emails, reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation, with a pediatrician.

Dr. Rollyn Ornstein, a pediatrician at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, believed a social worker for the hospital’s gender clinic would generate enough revenue to make funding the position worthwhile, noting that even with age restrictions for sex change surgeries, child patients would eventually turn 18 and be eligible for further interventions, according to emails from 2018 between Rollyn and Levine obtained by parental rights activist Megan Brock and reviewed by the DCNF. Social workers at pediatric gender clinics can work as surgery advocates, gathering letters of recommendation on behalf of minors seeking sex change procedures that insurance companies are otherwise hesitant to cover, according to a 2021 report from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the National Association of Social Workers.

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IRS Enlists Soros-Funded Liberal Nonprofit to Study the Feasibility of ‘Direct File’ Tax Return Systems

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is partnering with a George Soros-funded nonprofit to study and establish a “direct file” tax return system, according to FedScoop.

The nonprofit, New America, alongside Loyola Law School Associate Professor of Law Ariel Jurow-Kleiman, will create a feasibility study authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which requires that the IRS work with independent third parties to establish free, online direct tax-filing, according to FedScoop. New America draws funding from a litany of left-learning philanthropic organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures LLC and the Soros-backed Open Society Foundations, according to New America’s funding disclosure.

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Lawmakers Re-introduce Bill to Ban TikTok in the United States

TikTok’s days in the United States could be numbered under a bipartisan bill re-introduced by the heads of congress’ new Committee on China. 

Reps Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) on Friday submitted the legislation, which would ban the controversial video-sharing app from operating in the United States. 

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Michigan Secretary of State to Push for Gun Ban at Polling Places

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said she is working with state lawmakers to ban firearms at polling places and enact a Voting Rights Act.

“The time for only thoughts and prayers is over,” Benson said in a statement. “The time for taking action to ensure Michiganders are safe – in schools, in grocery stores, in places where we vote and everywhere in between – is now.”

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Commentary: Increasing Wokeness and Class Division Threaten to Tear the Left Apart

Tensions are rising between those who profess to want to redefine the “soul” of America and those who have traditionally provided them the votes to win elections.

A new report from the Manhattan Institute warns that increasing tensions inside the Democratic Party between woke White elites and working class voters threaten to tear the party apart. 

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Communist China Cracked Down on Christians in 2022, Report Says

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) censored, fined, politically indoctrinated and forcibly disappeared Chinese Christians in 2022, according to a new report from the nonprofit ChinaAid Tuesday.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) reportedly employed a range of new methods to persecute Chinese Christians in 2022 including fabricating charges of fraud as well as criminalizing the legal international travel of church leaders, the report states. China’s crackdown on Christianity reportedly intensified in the run-up to the CCP’s 20th Party Congress in October 2022, during which time General Secretary Xi Jinping secured a third term as the communist nation’s supreme leader, according to ChinaAid.

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Commentary: After School Satan Club Provokes Parent Outrage

A Virginia school board is considering revising its policies on after-school clubs following conflict over a new “After School Satan Club.”

The Chesapeake Public School Board previously allowed the Satan club to meet on school property, stipulating it pay over $600 for security for each meeting, something the district’s policy allows, local media reports.

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Commentary: Everyone Should Read Great Literature

When I first attended a Shakespeare play, I have to admit that for the first few scenes I was pretty lost. Shakespeare’s English is of a much older and more formal style than ours, so sometimes experiencing his work is almost like hearing another language. Confused and concerned that the play wasn’t going to make any sense, I began to fear that most dreaded of sensations in our modern age of instant entertainment: boredom.

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St. Mary’s College Says Biological Sex Messaging Does ‘Not Align’ with Its Mission

 Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, denied the foundation of a Turning Point USA chapter, according to an email from the dean of students, because Turning Point USA’s messaging on biological sex does “not align” with the Catholic college’s mission.

Claire Bettag, a sophomore student from Chicago, pushed back against Saint Mary’s denial of the club over the course of several months, according to emails reviewed by The Daily Signal. But the college’s dean of students, Gloria Jenkins, ultimately told Bettag that Turning Point USA’s messaging on transgender issues does not align with Saint Mary’s mission.

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