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A Seattle elementary school canceled Halloween activities over concerns about student equity and inclusion. Specifically, Seattle Public Schools says Black males do not celebrate and, more generally, students of color feel marginalized by the holiday. One parent, however, thinks this is an “exercise in affluent white vanity that is wokeism.” Benjamin Franklin Day Elementary typically hosts Halloween festivities each year. They include a “Pumpkin Parade” where students wear costumes if they choose. But the school administration changed its focus to “foundational beliefs around equity for our students and families,” and, consequently, they’re canceling Halloween. This year the only thing spooky...

California took another step toward its goal of ridding the state of all gas-powered engines thanks to a new bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday. The new law will ban the sale of all off-road, gas-powered engines, including generators, lawn equipment, pressure washers, chainsaws, weed trimmers, and even golf carts. Under the new law , these machines must be zero-emissions, meaning they will have to be either battery-powered or plug-in, according to the Los Angeles Times . “This is a pretty modest approach to trying to limit the massive amounts of pollution that this equipment emits, not to...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned Tuesday that the ongoing illegal immigration surge at the US-Mexico border is creating a golden opportunity for terror groups, calling it “another 9/11 in the making.” “There are 80 countries that they pick people up from,” Graham told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “There are two terrorists from Yemen they caught just a few weeks ago. How easy would it be for an Al Qaeda or ISIS cell to leave Afghanistan and come to the southern border, to blend in with this group? “The Border Patrol is doing the best they can,” Graham added, “but they...

Chicago has begun installing “Bleeding Control Kits” across the city under the new Safe Chicago program amid an increase in gun violence. The city will install 426 Bleeding Control Kits in 269 Chicago buildings, including City Hall and Chicago Public Library locations. Each kit can treat up to eight victims. Every kit comes equipped with a tourniquet, gauze, shears, gloves, and an instruction manual on how to best use it in instances of “life threatening bleeding emergencies” that can result from falls, penetrating injuries (such as stabbings), gunshot wounds, and more. Announced earlier this month to coincide with National Preparedness...

Central Maine Medical Center, a key hospital for regional healthcare, issued a dire warning about the need to shut down critical care services last week if they are forced to fire or lay-off all the unvaccinated workers. The hospital appealed to the Governor’s office, Democrat Janet Mills (pictured below left), for a testing option to avoid losing some of the most important care providers in their system. Today, the hospital quantified their issue and announced they were going to suspend pediatric admissions as well as heart attack and trauma admissions, because they just will not be able to operate. Unfortunately,...

President Joe Biden is rushing to relieve congestion across the nation’s complex shipping supply chain as it threatens to disrupt the holiday season for millions of Americans. With just over 10 weeks until Christmas, the White House is leaning heavily on port operators, transportation companies and labor unions to work around the clock unloading ships and hauling cargo to warehouses around the country. Biden will meet virtually Wednesday with industry leaders before delivering a speech on the administration’s efforts to address the bottlenecks. The supply-chain mess risks creating new economic and political turbulence for Biden in the coming months. Empty...

Rising inflation is expected to lead to a sizeable increase in Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2022. Exactly how much will be revealed Wednesday morning after a Labor Department report on inflation during September, a data point used in the final calculation. Over the last 10 years, the Social Security COLA has averaged about 1.7% annually as inflation remained low. But the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic has triggered rising prices for a wide range of goods and services, and that's expected to translate to bigger checks for retirees. Policymakers say the COLA works to preserve...

A new personality construct has been defined that describes people who persistently see themselves as victims within interpersonal conflicts. The research was published in Personality and Individual Differences. Study authors Rahav Gabay and team describe how the social world is satiated with interpersonal transgressions that are often unpleasant and seemingly unwarranted, such as being interrupted when speaking. While some people can easily brush off these moments of hurt, others tend to ruminate over them and persistently paint themselves as a victim. The authors present this feeling of being the victim as a novel personality construct that influences how people make...

Sitting in the Manhattan office of her then-husband’s gender counselor, Karen Ranney was taken aback by the suggestion that the couple’s love life would dramatically improve once he transitioned into a woman. “She mentioned various methods and equipment we could use,” the 64-year-old mother of two told The Post. “She said, ‘You might find it very sexy.’ ” Ranney, a former professional dancer who had reluctantly attended the consultation, replied: “I’ve known homosexuals, bisexuals and lesbians in the dance world, and I’m not closed-minded. “But I’m plain Jane, the girl next door, and I know it’s not for me.” The...

New Shepard’s 18th mission, NS-18, will lift off on Wednesday, October 13, carrying four astronauts, Dr. Chris Boshuizen, Glen de Vries, Audrey Powers, and William Shatner, to space and back.

(Reuters) - Texas Governor Greg Abbott's ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates will likely be superseded by the Biden administration plan to require shots for workers, but the dueling rules could take months to sort out in court, creating uncertainty for employers with business in the state. The Republican governor signed an executive order on Monday banning private employers and other entities from imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which he said threatened an economic recovery by disrupting the workforce.Some large employers are betting that federal law and President Joe Biden's vaccine mandates will trump Abbott's executive order. "Companies recognize they have to...

Do you trust the government or other people? Hardly a week goes by without another Democrat mayor, San Fran’s Breed or D.C.'s Bowser, another Democrat member of Congress like Tlaib or Pelosi, or even Joe Biden, flouting their own mask mandates in public. There’s also no great reason to believe that they’re abiding by their own vaccine mandates. Not after it was revealed that Governor Newsom, fresh from his French Laundry scandal, hadn’t vaccinated his daughter despite mandating vaccines for children her age. But the more rules there are, the fewer of them apply to the rulers. The two consistent...

Former Mossad chief: If Iran develops a nuclear weapon, lsrael must be able to stop Iran on its own. There is greater opposition to Iran’s nuclear program than in the past, former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said Tuesday at the Jerusalem Post Conference. “I think that Iran, to this day, is not even close to acquiring a nuclear weapon... This is due to longstanding efforts by some forces in the world,” he said in response to a question by Jerusalem Post intelligence reporter Yonah Jeremy Bob, which included references to Israeli covert actions in the Islamic Republic. Iran’s position is...

Surviving Rush members said they were "speechless" after seeing a video of the Ohio State University Marching Band performing the music of the influential Canadian prog-rockers over the weekend. The Buckeyes' tribute happened at halftime on Saturday (Oct. 9) during their home game against the Maryland Terrapins in Columbus, Ohio. The marching band added extra drums in honor of the late Neil Peart, the Rush drummer who died last year. The percussion section used 20 more toms and 20 more cymbals than usual, with the percussion players at the front of the group, per Ohio State News. The Buckeyes played...

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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) was seen without a mask at an indoor ball, just weeks after he implemented a mask mandate for school children. The Equality Ball, an annual fundraiser for Garden State Equality, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ advocacy group, took place Thursday, when Murphy, leaders of New Jersey Education Association and other officials were caught without masks. State Senator Holly Schepisi said that the maskless event is the type of hypocrisy "that is driving people in New Jersey insane." "At the very same time that this Governor issued another EO mandating two year olds wear masks for upwards...

If it wasn't already clear that the Biden administration was using the Wuhan coronavirus to exert more power and control over the country, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki made it clear in Tuesday's briefing. According to Psaki, President Biden is using the pandemic to pursue significant change in the way the American economy functions. When asked about the potential of cutting some programs — and thereby reducing the price tag — in Biden's $4.5 trillion budget proposal, Psaki rejected the notion. In the White House's view, all of Biden's priorities must be included and passed as soon as possible....

October 13, 2021 Wednesday of week 28 in Ordinary Time St. Edward the Confessor Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First readingRomans 2:1-11 ©Do you think you will escape God's judgement?No matter who you are, if you pass judgement you have no excuse. In judging others you condemn yourself, since you behave no differently from those you judge. We know that God condemns that sort of behaviour impartially: and when you judge those who behave like this while you are doing exactly the same, do you think you will escape God’s judgement? Or are you abusing his abundant goodness,...

Prick up your ears and listen to the violins: beyond the dreamy adagios and thrilling arpeggios the fat lady has sung. On stage Uncle Sam has been laid to rest, but unlike Don Giovanni, the good uncle’s corpse has not descended into hell. European pundits are lesser liars and hypocrites than American ones, yet they have already buried the good uncle after the fiasco of the century, as the retreat from Afghanistan has been called. But as Mark Twain famously noted, the obituary is a bit premature. In my lifetime, Uncle Sam has been through the wringer, time and again....

The phrase "Let's go Brandon" has swept across the United States. Ever since NBC reporter Kelli Stavast "misheard" NASCAR fans chanting "F--- Joe Biden," college students, internet memes, and millions of Americans have made it their rallying cry. But "Let's go Brandon" is a perfect symbol for the lies being told in this country. Case in point: Southwest Airlines. While Southwest continues to cancel thousands of flights, the talking heads tell us it's a disruption caused by weather, glitches in their computer system, and any other excuse they can think of besides vaccine mandates. "Let's go Brandon" is the media...