Michael Bloomberg Blames Teachers’ Unions for Keeping Money Flowing to Traditional Government Schools and Away from Charter Schools

Former Democrat New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says teachers’ unions were responsible for keeping schools locked down during the pandemic, a move that has enabled a mass exodus of students from traditional government schools throughout the country.

Given the generally poor academic achievement of America’s students, the steep drop in enrollment means states are now paying more to educate fewer children, and, “paying more for failure,” he asserts.

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Commentary: Gun Violence Is the Penalty for Our Failure to Uphold a Moral, Functioning Society

In the wake of recent mass shootings in New York, Texas, and Oklahoma, Democrats are once again sending Americans up a blind alley. Their “solution” is to punish millions of law-abiding gun owners for the crimes of a few evil maniacs. Undeniably, there is a certain appeal to this response. Gun control is a facile “fix” to a complex problem. 

Americans have owned guns since the founding, but it wasn’t until comparatively recently that mass shootings became a concern. Guns are not the problem. Our culture is. Broken cultures produce broken human beings. For every school shooter, there are thousands of other weak, confused, mentally disturbed men who are drifting away from society. They aren’t dating, aren’t working, and they spend most of their time in their bedrooms playing video games, smoking weed, watching pornography, and stewing in social media echo chambers. 

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Seventy Georgia Churches Split from Methodist Church over LGBTQ Stance

Last week, at least 70 churches in the state of Georgia announced their intentions to split from the United Methodist Church (UMC) over the church’s stance on the LGBTQ community.

Fox News reports that the split marks one of the biggest fractures in recent memory for the UMC, which is the third-largest Protestant denomination in the country. Last Thursday, the North Georgia Conference voted to allow the churches in question to disaffiliate from the broader church. The departing churches will be following the disaffiliation process that was first laid out in 2019 by the UMC’s General Conference, rules that are in effect until the next conference in 2023.

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Schools See Rise in Students Seeking Mental Health Assistance After COVID

Over three-fourths of American public schools have reported a rise in the number of students seeking mental health assistance in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As reported by Fox News, the data was released on Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which operates under the guidance of the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The report shows that 76 percent of public schools saw staff express concerns about the mental health of their students, including depression, anxiety, and trauma since the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020.

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Yellen to Testify on Biden Budget After Admitting She Was Wrong on Inflation

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will testify before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday, just days after she admitted she was wrong about inflation earlier in President Joe Biden’s term.

The hearing, which is on “the president’s fiscal year 2023 budget” will only feature testimony from Yellen, according to the committee’s website.

Biden’s budget likely will be under extra scrutiny as gas prices continue to hit record highs and inflation rises at the fastest level in decades.

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Report: The New Head of Black Lives Matter Has Filed for Bankruptcy Three Times

The new executive for the national Black Lives Matter (BLM) group has reportedly filed for personal bankruptcy on three separate occasions, raising further questions about the charity’s finances under heavy scrutiny, according to the New York Post.

Cicley Gay, 44, was named chair of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in April after joining the board of directors and has worked in the nonprofit field for over 20 years, according to her LinkedIn. She filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy as recently as 2016, and also in 2013 and 2005, according to federal court records first reported on by the Post.

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Second Amendment Foundation Sues over Washington’s High-Capacity Magazine Ban

The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation on Friday filed a federal lawsuit against Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and several other officials, challenging the state’s ban on large-capacity magazines for handguns and rifles.

Senate Bill 5078 prohibits the sale of gun magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, along with the manufacturing, distribution or import of such magazines in Washington.

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White House Unveils Nancy Reagan Stamp, ‘Important Part of One of the Most Pivotal Presidencies’

Acommemorative postage stamp of former first lady Nancy Reagan was unveiled Monday in a White House ceremony attended by surviving family, historians and first lady Jill Biden who remarked of the portrait-size image on display, “Isn’t this stamp just beautiful.”

When the stamp officially goes on sale next month, Reagan becomes the sixth first lady to have one created in her likeness, following Eleanor Roosevelt, Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison and Lady Bird Johnson.

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State Treasurers in Massachusetts, Nevada Want to Ditch Gun Company Investments

State Treasurers in Massachusetts and Nevada have announced their intentions to divest millions of dollars in state funds from investing in gun manufacturers and other firearms-related businesses.

As reported by Newsweek, the two statewide officials, both Democrats, made their plans clear on Thursday, seeking public support for their decisions. In Nevada, Zach Conine (D-Nev.) released a video statement explained his reasoning for seeking to cut ties between companies that produce “assault-style weapons” and the $47 billion in state funds that his office oversees.

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Commentary: Fake Goods Fund Real Crime

Illicit trade has increased significantly over the last several years, fueled in part by the growth in internet sales and the COVID-19 pandemic. While this criminal activity is happening in communities throughout the United States, the money often flows to dangerous organizations based overseas. Combating this issue is complex, but today we see a growing willingness to combine forces to help fight this danger.

Two years ago, pandemic-related shortages in health care supplies created an ideal environment for counterfeiters and other criminals. Front line health care workers needed personal protective equipment and were too often getting swindled or receiving fraudulent products that could put them at risk. This even extended to medicines and pharmaceuticals.

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Minnesota Golf Club Pays Damages After Canceling Conservative Event

A Rochester country club reimbursed the Center of the American Experiment $5,300 last week to settle a lawsuit after abruptly canceling the group’s public safety event in March.

American Experiment filed a lawsuit in Olmsted County District Court accusing Rochester Golf and Country Club of a breach of contract after “leftist activists” pressured the venue with an online petition signed by 90 people. The center said it was only given a two-day notice of the cancellation.

The think tank said around 50 attendees were “left standing in the parking lot … because of the last-minute arbitrary cancellation.”

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