Video: Left-Wing Oregon Legislature Celebrates Drag Queens’ Performance

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Two drag queens sashayed onto the floor of the Oregon House of Representatives and delivered an awkward, over-the-top performance for lawmakers Wednesday morning — with one Republican official decrying the charade as pure “political theater.”

The bizarre fiasco erupted on the chamber floor in honor of a Democratic resolution recognizing “the artistry of black drag performers” in the Beaver State, Rep. Travis E. Nelson told The Post.

The Democrat is the first black LGBTQIA+ House member.

Video of the flamboyant display captured the two queens — one sporting a bright yellow shimmery jumpsuit, with the other rocking a rainbow-hued one-piece with a blue wig — lip-synching to Aretha Franklin’s “A Deeper Love” while dancing wildly and jumping up and down around the chamber for nearly five minutes.

“I’m not sure the Founding Fathers envisioned taxpayer-funded legislative chambers being turned into platforms for political theater,” Rep. Dwayne Yunker posted on X, with footage of the cringeworthy act.

“The House floor is meant for serious debate, lawmaking, and serving all Oregonians not partisan spectacles designed to push cultural agendas. If this feels more like a performance than governance, you’re not alone.” (Read more from “Video: Left-Wing Oregon Legislature Celebrates Drag Queens’ Performance” HERE)

Discredited Neocon Talking Points From the Iraq War Are Back, Lazily Re-Purposed for Iran

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Remember all the infamous one-liners from the Global War on Terror? In the years after 9/11, when the neocon establishment in Washington was pushing ahead with its disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they were everywhere.

It’s a slam dunk case! We have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here. We’ll be greeted as liberators. Islam is a religion of peace. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. God has planted in every heart the desire to live in freedom.

Those last two are direct quotes from President George W. Bush, the man most responsible — whether through extreme naiveté or extreme duplicity — for propagating these ridiculous slogans and using them to justify decades-long wars that ended in ignominy for the United States. You’d think that after Iraq and Afghanistan this kind of rhetoric would be totally discredited. But you’d be wrong.

Over the past few days, almost since the moment Israel began bombing Iran, we’ve seen the reappearance of almost all the old GWOT rhetoric. Then as now, the purpose is to justify a U.S. military adventure abroad and gaslight the American people into supporting regime change in Iran.

For those of us who were in high school and college during and immediately after 9/11, who saw the propaganda play out in real time, it’s an amazing thing to witness what’s happening now. (Read more from “Discredited Neocon Talking Points From the Iraq War Are Back, Lazily Re-Purposed for Iran” HERE)

Supreme Court Deals Blow to Deep State Control in Ruling Against EPA

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The U.S. Supreme Court took a major step in helping dismantle the federal government’s stranglehold on public policy on Wednesday. In an 8-0 decision, the court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could not defend itself against a lawsuit from Oklahoma and Utah in its rubber-stamp home court, the D.C. Circuit.

The case arose from the EPA’s 2023 decision to deny the state implementation plans (SIP) submitted by 21 states in order to comply with the 2015 “good neighbor” revision to the Clean Air Act, which “mandates states to prevent their emissions from substantially affecting the air quality of neighboring states.” However, the facts of this case are essentially a secondary point, because the thrust of the Supreme Court appeal has to do with the venue at which the case can be heard.

The EPA wanted it to be heard in the D.C. Circuit, while Oklahoma and Utah, two states suing the EPA over the denial of their SIPs, want it to be heard in the 10th Circuit — their regional court. While the EPA has argued that the case should be heard in D.C. because the implementation plans are being requested by all 50 states, Oklahoma and Utah believe their local circumstances are much better heard by their own federal courts.

In this case, the EPA did individual state reviews “on their own merits,” but then denied the SIPs of certain states in one “omnibus” Federal Register rule in order to artificially shoehorn it into the D.C. Circuit to claim that such publication makes the denials a national action.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the opinion, recognized that merely publishing those denials together does not constitute a national action that might warrant review in the D.C. Circuit, but rather that each denial is a matter between the individual state and the EPA. It should therefore be challenged regionally. (Read more from “Supreme Court Deals Blow to Deep State Control in Ruling Against EPA” HERE)

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Donald Trump: We Don’t Want a Long-Term War With Iran

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President Donald Trump made clear Wednesday the administration is “not looking for a long-term war” with Iran.

Trump addressed concerns among members of the Make America Great Again base that the United States would be pulled into a long-term war, while fielding a question from Brian Glenn of Real America’s Voice.

“We’re not looking for a long-term war. We’re looking– I only want one thing–Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That’s it,” Trump said. “I’m not looking long-term, short-term, and I’ve been saying that for 20 years. I’ve been saying it as a civilian, who got a lot of publicity, people would cover it.”

“Very simply, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That’s it,” he continued. “It’s not a question of anything else, and if you did, you wouldn’t have much of a country because they would use it on us and use it on other people and they’d be a terror all over the world.”

Trump notably tweeted in 2011, before he even entered the political world, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and has been firm in his stance throughout his political career and the presidential campaign in 2024.

(Read more from “Donald Trump: We Don’t Want a Long-Term War With Iran” HERE)

Bombshell Report Reveals Cause of Dominican Republic Roof Collapse That Killed 236: ‘Complete Disregard for Building and Safety Laws’

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The owners of the doomed Jet Set nightclub in the Dominican Republic, where 236 people were buried alive earlier this year, ignored obvious warning signs and building safety laws, leading to the catastrophic collapse, a bombshell new government report reveals.

Sibling club owners Antonio and Maribel Espaillat, who were arrested last week, overloaded the building’s roof, made structural changes without permits and refused to call off the ill-fated April 8 bash despite obvious signs of danger hours earlier, the report said, according to Dominican Today.

“The defendant Maribel Espaillat, aware of a falling debris incident hours before the collapse and in response to a request to suspend the activity, refused to do so, citing the absence of the defendant Antonio Espaillat López and the impossibility of stopping the party, prioritizing economic gain over the safety and lives of people,” the Public Ministry document said.

“The nightclub, originally a movie theater, underwent a change of use that involved an inadequate structural adaptation,” investigators said.

“A key column in the structure was subsequently removed, significantly affecting the roof’s stability, without any professional assessment or permit to support the modification, demonstrating high-risk behavior.” (Read more from “Bombshell Report Reveals Cause of Dominican Republic Roof Collapse That Killed 236: ‘Complete Disregard for Building and Safety Laws’” HERE)

Fed Shock: Fed Officials Forecast Higher Rates and Higher Inflation

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The Federal Reserve delivered an unexpected blow to hopes for lower borrowing costs in the future, projecting higher inflation and higher interest rates in updated forecasts released Wednesday. While policymakers left their benchmark rate unchanged and signaled that they may cut in the second half of this year, forecasts of officials showed they expect fewer cuts next year and the year after that.

The central bank held the federal funds target at 4.25 to 4.50 percent, its level since the December rate cut. But the accompanying economic projections revealed rising concern that inflation is not receding fast enough—and that rates may need to stay elevated to keep it in check.

Officials now forecast that the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, will climb to 3.0 percent by the end of 2025. Core PCE inflation, which excludes food and energy, is expected to reach 3.1 percent. Both represent notable upward revisions from the March forecast, which anticipated 2.7 percent and 2.8 percent respectively.

“We expect a meaningful amount of inflation to arrive in the coming months,” Fed chairman Jerome Powell said. “We have to take that into account.”

This came as a surprise to many Fed watchers because recent inflation data has come in softer than expected, with prices holding steady or rising only at a slow rate. The annualized quarterly pace of the PCE inflation is 1.5 percent, below the Fed’s two percent inflation target, and core PCE inflation is two percent, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. (Read more from “Fed Shock: Fed Officials Forecast Higher Rates and Higher Inflation” HERE)

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‘Highly Vulnerable’ Iranian Supreme Leader May Try to Activate ‘Sleeper Cells’ in the West as Israeli Onslaught Mounts: Expert

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei may be attempting to activate terrorist “sleeper cells” across the West as he repeatedly makes inflammatory statements rejecting President Trump’s calls for surrender, Middle East experts say.

As Iran is increasingly squeezed by Israel — losing far more than the Jewish state has in the nearly week-old war — Henry Jackson Society research fellow Barak Seener warned Wednesday that Khamenei may be seeking to awaken terrorist Iranian sympathizers across the world as he runs out of traditional resources.

“The very fact now that the Iranian regime is volatile, it’s targeted, and it’s highly vulnerable — that’s what actually makes it increasingly dangerous to the West, in that it has nothing to lose it has this about this sense of nihilism, and it affects the rational calculus,” Seener said during a call with reporters hosted the America-Middle East Press Association.

Khamenei on Wednesday rejected Trump’s demands that Tehran give up its nuclear program, calling the president’s demands “absurd rhetoric” while refusing to back down.

“The US entering in this matter is 100% to its own detriment,” he said. (Read more from “‘Highly Vulnerable’ Iranian Supreme Leader May Try to Activate ‘Sleeper Cells’ in the West as Israeli Onslaught Mounts: Expert” HERE)

Alaska Hits Shocking Heat Record as Dangerous Phenomenon Accelerates: ‘Those Temps Could Feel Like 110’

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In a tragic milestone for rising global temperatures, the National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for Alaska, the first such alert in the state’s history, Grist reported.

Facing 22 hours of summer daylight and temperatures forecast to reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas, Ciara Santiago, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, Alaska, issued the historic advisory.

“People in [the] Lower 48 might think that’s nothing, but here those temps could feel like 110,” Santiago said, per Grist.

With June temperatures normally in the low 70s, the heat posed a challenge for residents more accustomed to dealing with brutal winters than hot summers. Most homes were designed to trap rather than release heat, and few buildings have air conditioning, Grist reported.

Due to a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification, areas near the Earth’s poles are warming at a much faster rate than the rest of the planet. With one-third of the state within the Arctic Circle, Alaska has experienced these effects firsthand, warming twice as fast as the lower 48 states, according to Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. (Read more from “Alaska Hits Shocking Heat Record as Dangerous Phenomenon Accelerates: ‘Those Temps Could Feel Like 110’” HERE)

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Gen Zers Who Watched BLM Burn Down the Country Have No Sympathy for L.A. Riots

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Riots have become an all-too-familiar sight on American television screens. The country seems constantly braced for radical extremism disguised as “peaceful protests.” The images of car burnings and “F*ck ICE” graffiti coming out of Los Angeles last week are only the latest. Unfortunately, these incidents are so similar to the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020, that California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom tried to score some pathetic political points by correcting someone who mixed up a video from 2020 with a current video. In the five years since the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, California is still stuck in its fiery, lawless ways.

I turned 18 one week after George Floyd was killed. I didn’t post any photos on my birthday because that was the day when social media users were pressured into posting a black square online. No restaurants were open because of Covid, so my family cooked dinner at home, then afterwards we gathered around the television to watch live coverage of riots across the country.

At 23 years old, I’m now indifferent to rioting. During the Michael Brown protests, I remember trembling at the images of cops wearing gas masks, coming out of the smoke towards legions of screaming protestors. Even Kyle Rittenhouse’s story jarred me, especially since he was only a few months younger than I was and his infamous incident occurred less than an hour from my house. These protests became increasingly frequent and close to home, and as they did, my attitude towards them changed.

Eighteen-year-olds are typically known to be idealists with starry-eyed dreams of equality and global peace. In the past, liberals have taken advantage of this naivety to build an energetic coalition of misinformed college kids. This seemed to be a reliable phenomenon, with around 43 percent of Gen Z adults aged 18-24 identifying as liberal. However, recent studies have found that Gen Z teens are far more likely to have moderate political views, have their parents’ religious affiliations, and distrust political institutions.

Shutting down schools, businesses, and even playgrounds during Covid impacted younger children in a severe way, as they lost human contact during a crucial stage of their development. Like me, many were cut off from friends and activities, with nothing more than a screen left to entertain them. (Read more from “Gen Zers Who Watched BLM Burn Down the Country Have No Sympathy for L.A. Riots” HERE)

Park Service Wrongly Celebrates Juneteenth as ‘National Independence Day’

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It has long been clear that the leftist activists who succeeded in getting “Juneteenth” added as a federal holiday meant to strip Independence Day of some of its moral and historical significance. The timing of Juneteenth, only a fortnight and change before the Fourth of July, is intended to usurp some of the Fourth’s glory. At the same time, the theme of the new holiday is designed to suggest that slavery, rather than liberty, is the defining feature of our founding. It’s an attempt to make 1776 vie with 1619, with the abolition of slavery being portrayed as our real moment of independence, in place of the moment when we actually proclaimed our independence and declared that “all men are created equal.”

Now the National Park Service has sent out an email celebrating Juneteenth as “National Independence Day.” If Juneteenth is that, then what is the Fourth of July? The email conveys that the NPS is “thrilled to announce that all national parks … will offer free entry on June 19th.” It adds, “On Juneteenth, we honor the enduring journey toward freedom and equality.” Most Americans would associate such language with the Fourth.

While the NPS now regularly denigrates or marginalizes our founding — witness its ongoing efforts to make the Jefferson Memorial woke — its communication about Juneteenth, unfortunately, is not really an example of the agency’s having gone rogue. Per the Office of Personnel Management, the official name of the holiday to be observed on June 19 is “Juneteenth National Independence Day.” The official name of the holiday to follow 15 days later is “Independence Day.” It could hardly be clearer that Juneteenth was intended to compete with, and partially marginalize, the Fourth of July.

America does not need, should not have, and does not legitimately have, two Independence Days. Designating Juneteenth as “National Independence Day” intrudes upon our actual Independence Day. It suggests that Americans’ freedom doesn’t really trace to the Declaration of Independence but rather to the Emancipation Proclamation — or, more exactly, to awareness of that proclamation (more than two years after it was issued). It also suggests that our actual Independence Day doesn’t apply to all Americans.

The author of the Emancipation Proclamation viewed these matters quite differently. In his wonderful 1858 Chicago speech, Abraham Lincoln said, “Now, it happens that we meet together once every year, somewhere about the 4th of July, for some reason or other.” He began examining that reason by referencing the direct ancestors of many in attendance: “We run our memory back over the pages of history for about eighty-two years, and we discover … a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers.” These “were iron men … and we understood that by what they then did it has followed that the degree of prosperity which we now enjoy has come to us.” (Read more from “Park Service Wrongly Celebrates Juneteenth as ‘National Independence Day’” HERE)