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For the second year in a row, a bill that would call for an Article V convention – or “convention of states” – is making its way through the South Carolina House of Representatives. This year’s legislation – H. 3205 – cleared a House judiciary subcommittee on Thursday and is now headed to the full judiciary committee for approval. Last year’s convention of states bill was approved by the full judiciary committee and advanced to the floor of the S.C. House. It failed to receive a vote, though, as the legislature effectively shut down during the coronavirus pandemic. Most observers...

Consider U.S. farmers happy. They are exporting record volumes of products to China. Shipments of soybeans, corn and pork are bringing smiles back to the American heartland. Or, to put this another way, Beijing is effectively acknowledging it cannot feed the Chinese people. China's leader, Xi Jinping, recently made such an admission. Last August, he announced what became known as the "clean your plate" campaign to end what he called a "shocking and distressing" waste of food. Just about everyone saw this effort, to get the Chinese people to eat less, as a warning of food shortages to come. Chinese...

The COVID-19 vaccine did not factor in the death of a West Point woman whose passing days after getting her second inoculation shot prompted questions from her family, according to health officials. The Utah Department of Health and the Office of Medical Examiner, or OME, issued a statement Thursday saying it had investigated the deaths of people who had recently taken the vaccine. After conducting the probes, the statement said, investigators found no links between the vaccine and any deaths. “The OME has determined there have been NO DEATHS caused by the COVID-19 vaccines to date in Utah. The OME...

Days after a mass shooting across three Atlanta-area spas left eight dead — an especially devastating attack on the Asian community that took place mere weeks after the killing of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee of San Francisco turned into national news — Asian members of Congress are taking their Republican colleagues to task at a Thursday hearing for perpetrating anti-Asian sentiment.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich is warning consumers about a reported increase in the amount of stimulus check email and text scams. With the third round of economic stimulus checks on the way to many Arizonans, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has seen an uptick in consumer complaints involving unsolicited text messages from scammers pretending to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

American officials are ready to participate in the first high level meeting of the administration with their Chinese counterparts this week in Alaska. But those representatives from Beijing are not coming to conduct meaningful discussions. They are coming instead to lecture Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. “The Chinese are offering zero accommodations to the United States,” a former defense official said in an interview with Foreign Policy. “They are offering only expectations of the United States to change and no change on their part.” The assessment is consistent with the hardline tone which top...

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was so active that forecasters resorted to naming storms with letters from the Greek alphabet for only the second time in history. Turns out, it was the final time. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced Wednesday the Greek alphabet will not be used in the future because doing so "creates a distraction from the communication of hazard and storm warnings and is potentially confusing."

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health previously revoked the eatery's health permit, and the Burbank City Council last month revoked its conditional-use permit.. A judge ruled Tuesday that the city of Burbank can padlock the doors at a Burbank bar and restaurant that has continued operating despite the issuance of a temporary restraining order allowing the city to enforce its closure order. But in the latest round of back-and-forth between the city and bar, the owners of Tinhorn Flat removed the doors.. "We found out a judge signed off on padlocking our doors, so we took maters into...

California falls near the bottom of the list in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looking at the equitability of COVID-19 vaccine distribution. California is ranked among the five worst states — along with Kansas, Maryland, Idaho and New Hampshire — in distributing shots to the communities that have seen the worst infection rates during the pandemic. The report published Wednesday used data on vaccine coverage — the number of people who had received at least one dose — in the first two-and-a-half months of the U.S. vaccine rollout, from Dec. 14, 2020 to March...

The white man charged Wednesday with killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent, at three Atlanta-area spas told authorities he was not driven by bigotry and that he had a "sexual addiction" and saw the businesses as "a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate," investigators said. Capt. Jay Baker, the director of communications of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in Georgia, sparked outrage when he said at a news conference Wednesday that the suspect, Robert Aaron Long, 21, had had "a really bad day" Tuesday, "and this is what he did." On Thursday, the sheriff's office...

BMW shows a first look at the i4 electric sedan's grille ... and the rest of the carBMW VIEW 5 IMAGES Stepping its all-electric line forward from the iX SUV, BMW presents a first look at the next potential Tesla sedan rival. The i4 sedan brings plenty of all-electric horsepower and an admirable range, but unfortunately tucks it all behind BMW's now-signature swollen, sagging kidneys — too much grille for any car, especially an all-electric luxury "gran coupe." The i4 will be the next big step toward an electric future that will see a dozen all-electric models roaming around the...

A British lawmaker proposed a 6 p.m. curfew for men after a London woman was murdered while walking home at night — in a case that has rocked the country and sparked an intense debate about women’s safety. Baroness Jenny Jones, a Green Party member of the House of Lords, made the extreme suggestion Wednesday during a debate on the Domestic Abuse Bill.

The Jesuit priest who presided over an inaugural Mass for President Joe Biden is under investigation for unspecified allegations and is on leave from his position as president of Santa Clara University in Northern California, according to a statement from the college’s board of trustees. Rev. Kevin O’Brien allegedly “exhibited behaviors in adult settings, consisting primarily of conversations, which may be inconsistent with established Jesuit protocols and boundaries,” O’Brien gave the service at Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle...for Biden...as well as ... Kamala Harris, their families and elected officials before the inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. O’Brien also...

Children will ‘probably’ have to get the COVID-19 vaccine for the United States to reach herd immunity against the CCP virus, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday at a Senate hearing on the response to the pandemic. “I have been saying lately, calculation, and it’s purely an estimate of 70 to 85 percent of the population. If it is that, we would probably have to get more children and I believe as we get high school students vaccinated in the fall, we’ll be able to reach that,” said Fauci, the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden and the director of...

Twitter said Friday it mistakenly suspended the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who is facing a push from dozens of House Democrats to expel her from Congress.The social media giant, which had previously suspended the conspiracy-embracing lawmaker’s account, said that the most recent lockout had been lifted.Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., on Friday morning introduced a resolution to do just that, calling Greene a “direct threat” to elected officials.Greene has previously promoted the baseless pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy and supported calls for violence against Democrats.More at Link

"Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). The Lord wants us to have a general but sincere concern for the ministry interests of fellow Christians. We live in a world that is preoccupied with special interests. On the national and international levels, interest groups push for public acceptance of their particular agendas. Likewise, on the local level most people care only about their own personal interests. They’re concerned about their jobs, their families, their hobbies, and perhaps their favorite sports team. In addition to those, if you’re a...

Jesus gives us more than one reason why we need his peace. Christ said to his disciples in John 14:30, “the ruler of this world is coming.” What was the context of his statement? He had just told the twelve, “I will no longer talk much with you” (14:30). Jesus knew Satan was at work in that very hour. The devil had already enlisted Judas to betray him. And Christ knew that the religious hierarchy in Jerusalem was being empowered by the principalities of hell. He was also aware that a devil-inspired mob was coming shortly to take him prisoner....

This global view of Mars is composed of about 100 Viking Orbiter images. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS ================================================================= New Study Challenges Long-Held Theory of Fate of Mars’ Water The new science results indicate that a large quantity of the Red Planet’s water is trapped in its crust rather than having escaped into space. Billions of years ago, according to geological evidence, abundant water flowed across Mars and collected into pools, lakes, and deep oceans. New NASA-funded research shows a substantial quantity of its water – between 30 and 99% – is trapped within minerals in the planet’s crust, challenging the current theory...

Food rich in vitamin D. In a retrospective study of individuals tested for COVID-19, vitamin D levels above those traditionally considered sufficient were associated with a lower risk of COVID-19. A new research study at the University of Chicago Medicine has found that when it comes to COVID-19, having vitamin D levels above those traditionally considered sufficient may lower the risk of infection, especially for Black people. The study, published today (March 19, 2021) in JAMA Open Network, retrospectively examined the relationship between vitamin D levels and likelihood of testing positive for COVID-19. While levels of 30 ng/ml or more...

From military bases to arms sales to economic trade and loans, both Beijing and Washington are wary of each other’s intentions on the continent. t might be where lions roam, elephants stampede and giraffes loiter in the meadows, yet Africa is fast growing as an area of substantial U.S. military focus, in large measure due to ongoing Chinese and Russian activities in the region. “As we look at Africa I would highlight to you that the largest concern we have is how we compete with Russia and China. From both a military and economic perspective, the Russian and Chinese are...