Anybody who follows me or my column knows that I have a type. Traditional country music stirs my soul. When I find someone young who can do the same thing, I do my best to track them down.
Zach Top is such an artist. His name kept showing up all over my feeds. When I heard the popular “Sounds Like the Radio,” I was thrilled and couldn’t stop smiling. I relentlessly pursued his people until I got an interview.
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Former DEA Special Operations Director Derek Maltz highlighted how strategic China is when it comes to attacking other countries, and claimed that the opioid crisis facing the U.S. is largely because of China and its connections with Mexican drug cartels that sneak it across the U.S. border.
A former Drug Enforcement Administration official warned about the dangers of China on Monday, claiming the foreign country is bringing its own pesticides into the United States, and that it has expanded past the fentanyl, to a new opioid called “nitazenes.”
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A judge has struck down a New York county’s ban on transgender athletes from participating in female sports, saying the county executive exceeded his authority by issuing the directive.
The ruling by state Supreme Court Judge Francis Ricigliano overturns an executive order signed by Nassau County Chief Executive Bruce Blakeman in February that requires any sports team seeking to use a county facility to provide information on “the biological sex at birth of the team members/participants.”
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A few days ago, in examining Harvard’s problems and the ghost of its deposed and disgraced former president Claudine Gay, this column wrote: “Education is supposed to be about reading, writing, and arithmetic—even at the college level. Once upon a time, and not that long ago, students at college read the classics to gain knowledge, learned to write stylish prose, and, for those scientifically minded, studied mathematics and became scientists.”
A critic wrote in—as readers are encouraged to do:
This is a window onto a big topic. It’s true that education is about the three Rs. But it is also true that there must be a purpose to learning those Rs. There’s actually nothing formally, and technically, wrong with “Educating students who will create . . . a more just and equitable world.” The real question is, What are justice & equity? They would like it to mean taking our stuff and giving it to other people, after keeping their share. But, to paraphrase the Grinch, Justice, perhaps, means a little bit more . . . . In any case, without a sense of purpose, or with a misdirected sense of purpose, the University will never right itself. And as this is the largest questing of Meaning, it is really a religious question that, having turned their backs on religion, they are utterly incapable of engaging, let alone answering.
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Breitbart The political persecution of former President Donald Trump is “backfiring,” Trump pollster John McLaughlin, CEO and partner of McLaughlin & Associates, said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily. McLaughlin discussed some of the changes that are being seen in the polls, as things certainly seem to be moving in…
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Congress has spent more money on interest so far this year than it has spent on both national defense and Medicare.
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Washington Times In a significant escalation of tensions between state leadership and tribal authorities, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been prohibited from entering territories belonging to several tribes, constituting nearly 20% of the state’s land area. The recent prohibitions were enacted by the Yankton Sioux Tribe and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe,…
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Michael Cohen’s opening day of testimony—much like other witnesses—appeared to do little to bolster Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump, which at least one legal expert assesses is weak.
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A valuable comic book collection, statues of the founding fathers, and historic buildings where great minds like Albert Einstein have taught – all reportedly have been targets of anti-Israel protesters in recent weeks.
Some have caused massive damage. Images show graffiti and debris covering campuses like the University of California at Los Angeles, California State Polytechnic University at Humboldt, and Portland State University (pictured) – attracting national news attention and public shock.
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The number of known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) apprehended at the northern border in the first six months of fiscal 2024 continue to outpace those apprehended at the southwest border.
There have been 143 KSTs apprehended at the northern border through the first six months of this fiscal year compared to 92 at the southwest border, according to the most recent CBP data.
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CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten on Monday said former President Donald Trump’s lead in sun belt states is disastrous for President Joe Biden’s reelection chances.
Trump is leading Biden by 13 percent among likely voters in Nevada, 9 percent in Georgia and 6 percent in Arizona, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College survey. Enten on “CNN News Central” said Trump winning all these sun belt states would be rare for a Republican and asserted the former president’s lead is due to his coalition changing to consist of more nonwhite voters.
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A new report from Ember-climate.org, which describes itself as “an independent energy think tank that aims to accelerate the clean energy transition with data and policy” touting that renewable energy provided 30% of electricity generation in 2023 is getting a lot of attention, with reports in The Guardian, Associated Press, and Reuters, and CNN.
“A permanent decline in fossil fuel use in the power sector at a global level is now inevitable,” the report by Ember declares.
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Recently, Democrats at both federal and state levels have passed or are considering regulations that will grant government health coverage to illegal residents.
Bad move for both illegals and legal residents.
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A House committee is scheduled to examine the historic surge in Chinese illegal immigration next week, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
The House Homeland Security Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability will hold a hearing on Thursday concerning the roughly 8,000 percent increase in Chinese illegal immigration the U.S. has experienced since March 2021, a committee spokesperson told the DCNF. The DCNF recently revealed an internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) email showing that the Biden administration dramatically simplified the vetting process for Chinese illegal immigrants in April 2023, which has increased the speed of Chinese illegal immigrants entering the country.
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None of the five civil and criminal cases currently lodged against former President Donald Trump have ever had merit. They were all predicated on using the law to injure his re-election candidacy—given a widespread derangement syndrome among the left and a fear they cannot entrust a Trump/Biden election to the people.
These criminal and civil trials are merely the continuation of extra-legal efforts of the last eight years to destroy a presidential candidate in lieu of opposing him in transparent elections.
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Legislation to make permanent the extension of telehealth services for federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics has passed the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The bill of U.S. Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., and the Rural Physician Workforce Preservation Act he authored are also under consideration by the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in five crucial battleground states for head-to-head matchups ahead of a November rematch, and has gained ground among black and Hispanic voters, a Monday poll found.
Trump is ahead of Biden by 13 points among likely voters in Nevada, as well as by nine points in Georgia, six points in Arizona, three points in Pennsylvania and one point in Wisconsin, according to the latest New York Times/Siena College survey. Biden is only leading in one state, Michigan, with a 47 percent to 45 percent margin.
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It’s no secret that there’s a divide between urban and rural communities in America right now. Whether it’s the proclamation of “white rural rage” or stereotypes of uneducated country dwellers, rural communities are often misunderstood.
But just like urban life has its ups and downs, country living has its own advantages, values, traditions, and lifestyles we can learn from.
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A group of lawmakers, including two Virginia congressmen, are calling on the U.S. Department of Defense to send more “American-made” drones to be deployed on the Ukrainian battlefield.
In a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Virginia Republican Reps. Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans along with nine other lawmakers say “most drones being used in Ukraine’s fight” against Russia are being made by a “single Chinese company.”
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Dozens of legislators wrote to President Joe Biden on Monday to criticize the Biden administration’s decision to withhold certain weapons from Israel.
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Washington Examiner Over 40,000 women in states with abortion restrictions have accessed abortion medication from providers in other states via telehealth appointments, according to a study published on Tuesday. According to the Society of Family Planning, a pro-abortion-rights organization, 19% of all abortions in the United States in December 2023 were conducted via telehealth appointments, during which a physician…
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The Blaze Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul praised the ‘record involvement by local minority- and women-owned businesses’ in the project Leaders in New York City and throughout New York state have celebrated an initiative by the New York Port Authority to reserve a sizeable portion of the nearly $20 billion renovation…
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The recent arrest of McKenzie McClure, the biological female and former Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA) student federal authorities accused of cyberstalking following alleged threats to CPA in Nashville, shares concerning similarities with the circumstances which preceded the tragic Covenant School shootings by former Covenant School student Audrey Elizabeth Hale last year.
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“As you can see today, we’re expanding the electoral map because we are going to officially play in the state of New Jersey—we’re going to win the state of New Jersey… We’re also looking… at the state of Minnesota, which hasn’t been won [by the GOP] since 1952 and we’re leading in the polls, and the state of Virginia and actually many other states, I don’t know, it could be all of them.”
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President Biden’s 2025 budget proposal provides a salient reminder that he is no moderate, despite his attempts to position himself as one.
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U.S. farmers’ confidence in the economy cratered in April, according to the latest monthly report from Purdue University.
The Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer for last month, which was released Tuesday, fell 15 points from March. At 99, the current score is the lowest the barometer has dropped since it reached 97 in June 2022.
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The federal government funded a multilateral research project investigating how “populist” politicians allegedly sowed disinformation and eroded public trust during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) paid out a grant to support research investigating “how populist politicians distorted COVID-19 pandemic health communication to encourage polarized attitudes and distrust among citizens,” which made the public “more vulnerable to misinformation generally,” according to federal spending records. The project, titled “Pandemic Communication in Times of Populism,” received just over $160,000 from the NSF and is focused on how leaders in the United States, Brazil, Serbia and Poland approached the pandemic, stressing the importance of elevating public health experts over “populist” politicians, according to a presentation produced by the researchers.
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The sweeping Trump-era tax cuts in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are set to expire next year, setting up the tax debate as a potentially key political issue this election year.
While illegal immigration and inflation top Americans’ list of concerns, both parties are increasingly talking about the Trump-era tax cuts, which President Joe Biden has said he will allow to expire next year.
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As borrowing costs for student loans are already at unseen levels, rates are expected to rise even higher in the coming months to a high not seen in 16 years.
According to ABC News, the current interest rate on a federal undergraduate student loan, which is 5.5%, is expected to rise to 6.5% in July. This would mark the highest level since 2008. The borrowing rate for student loans is determined as a result of adding a fixed amount of 2.05% to the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond, which is set every May at an annual auction. On Wednesday, the 2024 auction saw 10-year Treasury bonds sold at a yield of 4.48%.
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Monday, a week ago, Holocaust Day was marked by solemn remembrances in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. It was marked in the U.S., as has been customary, by a presidential address, where Biden said nothing that would garner more than perfunctory notice.
Turns out that that was by design. For Biden had already approved a decision that gives cheer to the shade of Hitler and all his modern wanna-be-s — embargoing any arms to Israel that would allow them to keep Hamas from surviving intact and reasserting its plan for death to Israel.
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Scores of students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) staged a walkout during their Saturday morning graduation ceremony as Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin took the podium to deliver a commencement address, The Washington Post reported.
The walkout, which consisted of approximately 100 out of 1,200 students, was a display of support for Palestinians and a demonstration against Youngkin’s stance against racial equity initiatives in schools, according to the Post. Youngkin and Virginia’s colleges and universities, including VCU, are battling over whether tax-payer funding should go toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
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by Roger Kimball Some time ago, I participated in a conference about “policing in an age of terror.” One big topic was the place of informed hunches in the armory of the police. Was it okay, or was it culpably racist, for the police to act on educated hunches…
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Two reports released Monday show that the U.S. combined Social Security trust fund is projected to deplete its reserves by 2035.
The Trustees for Social Security and Medicare released annual reports on Monday. The Trustees projected the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund will exhaust its reserves in 2036. The Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund was projected to be insolvent by 2033.
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Gas prices have been elevated in recent months heading into summer, when prices are expected to rise even more.
According to AAA, the average national price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $3.65 per gallon, up from $3.59 a month ago. The prices have fluctuated in recent days and are lower than the all-time high of $5.02 in the summer of 2022. However, prices overall have risen significantly this year and are on pace to rise more in the summer months.
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Imagine a scientist who decided to reject every scientific experiment or study that had come before him and would trust only scientific principles that he demonstrated with his own experiments.
Naturally, he would completely handicap himself. In his arrogance, he’d accomplish very little with his science, since he’d be hard at work re-demonstrating every scientific discovery ever made, many of which build on each other. He could never hope to repeat what generations of scientists (many of them much smarter than he) had accomplished over hundreds of years. But if he wasn’t willing to accept their testimony, writings, and conclusions, he’d have no other choice.
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Daily Mail UK Traumatic footage show a transgender murder suspect running over a victim twice with a Dodge Challenger in suburban Houston – before kissing and stabbing his limp body. Law enforcement sources close to the case said the footage was some of the most horrifying they’ve seen in their careers, and…
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With his appeal to moderate voters, North Dakota GOP Gov. Doug Burgum is emerging as a potential vice presidential pick for presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
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New battleground state polling shows Georgia firmly back in the camp of former President Donald Trump with a commanding double-digit lead (49 percent to 39 percent) in a head-to-head race vs. Joe Biden.
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Dozens of Duke University students on Sunday walked out of their commencement ceremony, some chanting “free Palestine,” in protest of guest speaker Jerry Seinfeld for his support of Israel.
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Despite being stretched thin and understaffed, Border Patrol agents at the northern border continue to apprehend a record number of illegal border crossers.
In the busiest northern border sector of Swanton, Border Patrol agents made history by apprehending the greatest number of illegal border crossers in sector history of 1,109 in March, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. While the numbers are significantly lower than those apprehended at the southwest border, they are out of the ordinary for the northern border and its busiest sector. By comparison, agents apprehended 37 illegal border crossers in March 2021.
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Mass migration has not delivered significant GDP growth per capita for the United Kingdom, but it has increased strain on the country, according to a new study.
While illegal immigration recently hit record highs in the United States, legal immigration poses a significant issue for the U.K., where legal migration levels are more than 25 times the level of illegal levels, according to a report Wednesday from the Centre for Policy Studies, a U.K. think tank and advocacy group.
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