University Offers Counseling for Students to ‘Process Emotions’ After Professor Tweets About Gay Men and Monkeypox

The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) held a group counseling session to help students cope after a professor tweeted about the connection between gay men and monkeypox, according to the event’s website.

UTD Professor Timothy Farage tweeted an article from the Daily Mail on July 15 which reported that a high amount of monkeypox patients were gay men with the comment: “can we at least try to find a cure for homosexuality, especially among men?” UTD’s Gender Center & the Student Counseling Center responded by holding a group counseling session for students to discuss and cope with the “appalling” comments, according to an email by UTD Dean Stephanie Adams, obtained by UTD’s student-run newspaper, The Mercury.

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Commentary: ‘ID Cards’ for Illegal Aliens Is an Idea as Bad as It Sounds

For the anti-borders Left, one of its most successful tactics has been to boil the frog slowly. Abetted by policymakers and the press, the movement has slowly but steadily altered our language, culture, and government policy toward the bleak destination of a borderless, lawless America. Most Americans, focused largely on paying their bills and raising their kids, have barely noticed the changes.

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Portland Schools Teaching Young Children About ‘Infinite Gender Spectrum’

A Portland school is teaching children as young as kindergarteners about the “infinite gender spectrum” and gender “colonization,” according to public documents.

The curriculum implemented in 2021 at Portland Public Schools in Portland, Oregon, teaches K-12 students that there is an “infinite gender spectrum” and that they can make up their own pronouns, according to public documents. The students learn that gender is “colonized” by “white colonizers” who are trying to “erase many cultures, including what some might now call ‘queer’ or ‘trans’ people.”

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U.S. Debt Will Nearly Double GDP Within 30 Years, Feds Say

Federal debt will nearly double the nation’s Gross Domestic Product by 2052 if it continues on its current trajectory, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office says in its economic and debt forecast released Wednesday.

U.S federal debt surpassed $30 trillion in February, and the most recent GDP data showed a decline of 1.6% in the first quarter of 2022. GDP second quarter data is set to be released Thursday.

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‘Misled the Public:’ Oversight Launches Investigation into Nursing Home COVID Deaths

Republicans on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis and the House Oversight Committee have joined forces in an investigation over the thousands of nursing home deaths in New York state during COVID, saying New York Democrats ignored previous inquiries.

The controversy began in 2020 when thousands of New York nursing home residents died during the pandemic, drawing extra scrutiny to then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s policy of sending elderly patients recovering from COVID-19 into nursing homes.

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Dominion Energy Opens 12-Megawatt Battery System, Piloting Energy Storage to Accompany Wind, Solar

Dominion Energy is now operating a 12 megawatt bank of three battery systems at its Scott Solar facility in Powhatan County. That’s the largest battery storage project the utility operates, according to a Thursday announcement, and is part of a pilot program aimed at developing energy storage alongside wind and solar power generation.

“Battery storage is an integral component to the clean energy transition in Virginia, supporting grid reliability for our customers during periods of high demand and by helping to fill gaps due to the inherent intermittency of solar and wind power,” Dominion Energy Virginia President Ed Baine said in a press release.

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Opioid Settlement Payments to Virginians Begin

Virginia Atty Gen Jason Miyares

Most Virginia localities were expected Friday to start receiving their share of the first payment in an opioid settlement, about $4.1 million split across the 133 localities. Additionally, Virginia’s Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA) will receive about $9.9 million, Attorney General Jason Miyares announced.

“I’m thrilled to announce that after a long period of waiting, the payments to Virginia’s Opioid Abatement Authority and to Virginia’s localities under this landmark settlement are on the way. Now, Virginia communities will be able to take actionable steps to fight back against the opioid epidemic, knowing that more help is on the way,” Miyares said in a press release.

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SCOTUS Justice: U.S. Seeing Growing Hostility to Religious Freedom

Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said there’s a “growing hostility to religion” in a keynote address he gave highlighting the unique protection of religion in the U.S. Constitution.

“The problem that looms is not just indifference to religion, it’s not just ignorance about religion,” he said at a 2022 Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit in Rome last week.

“There’s also growing hostility to religion or at least the traditional religious beliefs that are contrary to the new moral code that is ascendant in some sectors,” he said during his 37-minute remarks released on Thursday.

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Commentary: The Establishment’s Effort to ‘Destroy Trump’ Belies a Terrible Truth

For some time now, Michael Anton has been saying that the Establishment – Democrats tout court, of course, but also large swaths of the testosterone-challenged GOP – are dead set against allowing Donald Trump to run for president again. It’s been obvious from its beginnings that the January 6 committee – an illegally constituted kangaroo court – was interested in one thing and one thing only: eliminating Trump and his followers from the metabolism of American political life. The fact that its public face is Liz Cheney, a soon-to-be cashiered anti-Trump RINO, underscores Anton’s point, or part of it. 

It’s not just the Democrats who cannot countenance Trump. It is the entire certified political class, what Anton calls the bureaucratic “uniparty” that runs the government and maintains the Overton Window that determines what is and what is not acceptable in the political life of the country. Donald Trump is not in the picture frame. 

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Commentary: State Secretaries of State Play a Critical Role in Elections

Most state residents think of their secretary of state as someone who is in charge of their department of motor vehicles. Few realize that the decisions of secretaries of state could determine who becomes president. Dozens of states will hold elections this fall that will determine the officials who will run state elections in 2024 – and these officials could play crucial roles in the next presidential vote count.  

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Drug Manufacturer Agrees to Multi-Billion Dollar Settlement with Victims of Opioid Epidemic

Teva Pharmaceuticals, one of the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer, has reached an agreement in principle to settle all outstanding lawsuits over their alleged involvement in the national opioid crisis for $4.35 billion, according to a Teva press release.

This payout includes a commitment to supply $1.2 billion worth of Narcan, a drug that reverses opioid overdose, over the next ten years, the release states. The $4.25 billion will be distributed over the next 13 years, with $100 million being earmarked for Native American Tribes.

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Coast Guard to Discharge COVID Vaccine Mandate Objectors Without Separation Hearings

While federal courts have ordered the Navy and Air Force not to take any adverse actions against military members seeking religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the Coast Guard is seeking to discharge service members refusing the vaccine without allowing them to appear before administrative separation boards to defend their cases.

Federal courts in Texas and Ohio have granted injunctions against the Navy and Air Force vaccine mandates, respectively, for members seeking religious exemptions. Those injunctions, however, do not apply to any other military branches, including the Coast Guard.

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Rescues and Recovery Continue in Kentucky after Deadly Flooding in Appalachia Claims at Least 25 Lives

At least 25 have people died in Kentucky– including four children – in the flooding caused by the torrential rains and flash floods earlier this week, Gov. Andy Beshear said Saturday.

“We continue to pray for the families that have suffered an unfathomable loss,” the Democrat governor said. “Some having lost almost everyone in their household.”

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Oklahoma Education Board Disciplines School Districts for Allegedly Teaching Critical Race Theory

The Oklahoma State Board of Education disciplined both Tulsa Public Schools and Mustang Public Schools last week for reportedly violating a law preventing Critical Race Theory from being taught in public schools.

The state board determined at a meeting on Thursday that the two school districts violated HB 1775, which broadly prohibits race- or sex-based discrimination.

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Youngkin Announces About $27 Million in Loans for Low-Income Housing

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced about $27 million in loans for the 2022 Spring Affordable and Special Needs Housing (ASNH) awardees on Friday. The funds are aimed at 34 projects for both existing and new units for low-income households.

“These projects will provide critical support to our most vulnerable populations, strengthening our economy, and improving the quality of life for countless Virginians,” Youngkin said in a release. “Stable and affordable housing is foundational to building a thriving economy. These projects were carefully selected to ensure they make the most impact on their future residents and the surrounding communities.”

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