Are Gays ‘Born That Way’? Most Americans Now Say Yes, but Science Conclusively Says No

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For the first time, a majority of Americans say that homosexuals are “born that way.”

According to the latest Gallup poll, 51 percent of Americans say that people are born gay or lesbian, while only 30 percent say outside factors such as upbringing and environment determine sexual orientation.

However, science would not bear that out. No fewer than eight major studies from around the world have found homosexuality is not a genetic condition.

Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council says that these numerous, rigorous studies of identical twins have now made it impossible to argue that there is a “gay gene.” If homosexuality were inborn and predetermined, then when one identical twin is homosexual, the other should be, as well.

Yet one study from Yale and Columbia Universities found homosexuality common to only 6.7 percent of male identical twins and 5.3 percent of female identical twins. (Read more from “Are Gays ‘Born That Way’? Most Americans Now Say Yes, but Science Says No” HERE)

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Obama to Be First Sitting President to Visit Federal Prison

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President Obama is set to tour Oklahoma’s El Reno Correctional Institution on Thursday, becoming the first sitting president to visit a federal prison, the White House said last week . . .

Obama will speak about reforming sentencing guidelines when he addressed the NAACP’s annual conference in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The President is also widely expected to commute the sentences of dozens of non-violent offenders during the week. He previously commuted the sentences of 22 drug offenders in March.

“The President has already, over the first six years of his administration, offered some commutations to nonviolent offenders,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said on July 6. “But he does not view that as a cure-all for some of the inequities that continue to persist in our criminal justice system. Broader reform is needed.” (Read more from “Obama to Be First Sitting President to Visit Federal Prison” HERE)

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Has the Twilight Zone Episode “The Obsolete Man” (Almost) Come True?

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“Imagine, if you will, a time and place where there is no history because there are no books. There is no religion because there is no Bible. But even before the Bible was eliminated, God was disproven and banned from worship or mention. The only thing that exists is The State, run by a small group of elites who rule and judge according to their own beliefs, or lack thereof…”

Rod Serling wrote about this type of world in a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone called, “The Obsolete Man“–and the similarities with today’s world are stunning.

The story, similar to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, takes place in a future totalitarian America. ‘Romney Wordsworth’ (played by Burgess Meredith) is on trial for the crime of being obsolete, unworthy of life. His occupation, a librarian, is considered a crime punishable by death, as is his belief in God. He is being prosecuted by the Chancellor, who deems that Wordsworth is not an asset to the State and thus needs to be eliminated.

The opening, narrated by Rod Serling:

You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future; not a future that will be, but one that might be. This is not a new world: It is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advancements, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: Logic is an enemy, and truth is a menace. (Camera switches to the convicted man) This is Mr. Romney Wordsworth, in his last forty-eight hours on Earth. He’s a citizen of the State, but will soon have to be eliminated, because he’s built out of flesh and because he has a mind. Mr. Romney Wordsworth, who will draw his last breaths in the Twilight Zone.

(Read more from “Has the Twilight Zone Episode “The Obsolete Man” (Almost) Come True?” HERE)

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Donald Trump: We Have to Take Back the Heart of Our Country

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose caustic comments about Mexicans have inflamed the immigration debate, told thousands of cheering supporters here Saturday that “we have to take back the heart of our country.”

In a rambling, defiant speech delivered in this border state that has been the epicenter of the nation’s divisive battle over immigration reform, Trump declared: “These are people that shouldn’t be in our country. They flow in like water.” One man in the crowd of 4,200 shouted back, “Build a wall!”

Basking in polls that show he has risen to the top of the crowded Republican field, Trump took obvious glee in mocking former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the establishment favorite who is setting fundraising records.

“Jeb Bush, let’s say he’s president — Oy, yoy, yoy,” Trump said. He asked the crowd: “How can I be tied with this guy? He’s terrible. Terrible. He’s weak on immigration.”

Trump’s 70-minute address here, which sounded more like a stream-of-consciousness rant than a presidential-style stump speech, put an exclamation point on his bombastic push since his presidential announcement last month to return immigration to the forefront of the national conversation. (Read more from “Donald Trump: We Have to Take Back the Heart of Our Country” HERE)

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Iran, Powers Nearing Nuclear Deal, But No Final Agreement Yet

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Iran and six world powers were close to nailing down a historic nuclear deal that would bring sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s atomic program, but the Iranian foreign minister said no agreement would be announced on Sunday.

After more than two weeks of negotiations in Vienna, Iranian and Western officials said the earliest an agreement could be ready was Monday, the self-imposed deadline for clinching a deal, though that could be extended again.

“We still have got work to do tomorrow,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters from his hotel balcony. “No deal today.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has cautioned that “major issues” remain to be resolved, and comments from both senior Republican and Democrat Senators on Sunday suggested that any final deal would also face tough scrutiny in Congress.

Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for the Iranian delegation, said on Twitter that the draft agreement Iran and the powers – the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China – were working on was “a 100-page document”. (Read more from “Iran, Powers Nearing Nuclear Deal, No Agreement Seen” HERE)

[Pastor Joel Richardson talks about the role of Iran and the regional war that it will initiate soon]

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Muslim Hired as British Government Terror Watchdog Is Extremist Who Called US ‘Vicious World Empire’

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A British government worker who helped regulate the country’s anti-terror planning was fired after superiors learned of his Islamist sympathies, the Telegraph reported.

Abdullah al Andalusi said the brutal exploits of ISIS were “no different to the history of some Western armies” and supported the right of youths to venture to Syria to fight.

“If merely going to fight overseas is condemned as terrorism, shouldn’t the UK arrest British volunteers joining the Israeli Defense Force which kills civilians in Gaza in a war against the Gazan government?” al Andalusi wrote in a September 2014 article for the Muslim Debate Initiative, a group he co-founded . . .

During a Jan. 16 talk at Queen Mary University, he dismissed the 9/11 terror attacks as “the day a vicious world empire found a publicly-acceptable excuse to bomb others, invade non-threatening nations, torture political dissidents and kill at least 300,000 innocent people,” according to the Telegraph . . .

During a Jan. 16 talk at Queen Mary University, he dismissed the 9/11 terror attacks as “the day a vicious world empire found a publicly-acceptable excuse to bomb others, invade non-threatening nations, torture political dissidents and kill at least 300,000 innocent people,” according to the Telegraph. (Read more from “Muslim Hired as British Government Terror Watchdog Is Extremist Who Called US ‘Vicious World Empire'” HERE)

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Obama’s Education Secretary Loves Common Core for Your Kids, but NOT HIS

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By Eric Owens. Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s wife has moved to Chicago so the couple’s two daughters can attend the University of Chicago Lab School, arguably the most elite private school in Chicago — and certainly among the most expensive.

Duncan has led the Department of Education since the outset of President Barack Obama’s administration. He will shuttle between Washington and Chicago for the remainder of Obama’s second term, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

The former chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools has been a forceful cheerleader for the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a set of K-12 math and language arts curriculum benchmarks and high-stakes standardized tests now being used in public schools in most states.

Duncan’s family moved into a home in an affluent area in northern Virginia when he became education secretary in 2009. His children attended public schools there in the intervening years. However, Virginia is not a Common Core state . . .

Duncan, who has bragged that he seeks employment policy guidance from Chicago street gang leaders, is not the only powerful Democrat who preaches the benefits of Common Core for America’s kids but then doesn’t actually allow his own kids to take part. (Read more from “Obama’s Education Secretary Loves Common Core for Your Kids, but NOT HIS” HERE)

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House Votes to Revive No Child Left Behind

By Michael Tennant. The Republican-led House of Representatives voted Wednesday to revive the unpopular, long-dead No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act — but just barely. The vote was 218-213, with 27 Republicans and all Democrats voting against the bill.

Even then, only some arm-twisting by the House leadership managed to save the bill. “For most of the roll call, the bill had more votes against it than in favor,” reported The Hill. “Many Republicans either held out their votes until the last minute or changed their votes under pressure from GOP leaders.”

The original No Child Left Behind Act, passed in 2002, was hailed as a bipartisan achievement of Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), then chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee; the late Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.); and President George W. Bush. The law expired in 2007, yet its mandates have continued in force.

“Why do states and schools continue to act as though No Child Left Behind is current law?” Representative Justin Amash (R-Mich.) asked in a Facebook post explaining his “no” vote on Wednesday’s bill. “Because Congress has continued to appropriate money for NCLB as though the funding authorization never expired! In other words, the program is legally dead, yet Congress continues to send federal funding to schools, with strings attached, as though the law remains in effect.”

The Obama administration has been all too happy to take advantage of the continued funding of NCLB, which has been despised by parents, teachers, schools, and states for its emphasis on standardized testing and centralization of education policy in Washington. The administration (probably illegally) granted NCLB waivers to states on the condition that they adopt Common Core standards. With 47 states having received waivers, it’s not hard to figure out why the allegedly voluntary, state-led Common Core has swept the nation. (Read more from this story HERE)

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The Democrats Are the Party of Slavery, Segregation, and the KKK [+video]

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By Jim Treacher. As we watch the Confederate flag being brought down in South Carolina (and being brought up by Nancy Pelosi, in a characteristically cynical and underhanded ploy), it’s worth taking a look at the racist history of the Democratic Party. They own that stupid flag, which is why they keep trying to pin it on the Republicans.

Courtesy of the great Bill Whittle:

(Read more from “Democrats are the Party of Slavery” HERE)

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Conservative NAACP Exec: ‘Liberal Machine’ Hinders Civil Rights Progress

By Emma Kristina. A leader in the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) who has been an active advocate since long before the Freddie Gray incident is critical of the black civil rights group’s politicization of their own mission.

Blind allegiance to the Democratic Party hinders true civil rights progress, Hassan Giordano, chairman of the Baltimore NAACP’s Criminal Justice Committee, told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview.

“The NAACP — on a national level, not necessarily a local level — has this liberal machine they bow down to that does nothing to help them in the long run,” Giordano said.

Giordano, who is also a contributor to Fox News Radio, identifies as a conservative independent. Although he says that if he had to choose, his allegiance would lie much more with the Republican Party rather than the Democratic Party.

“I’m not the average conservative. I’m Muslim, I’m black, I’m from the hood, I got a criminal record,” Giordano told The Daily Caller. “So you would think, ‘Oh, he’s definitely a typical Democrat.’ But I’ve never identified with the Democratic Party. Ever.” (Read more from “Conservative NAACP Exec: ‘Liberal Machine’ Hinders Civil Rights Progress” HERE)

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Texans Organize Operation Counter Jade Helm Surveillance Operation

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Hundreds of people have organized a “Counter Jade Helm” surveillance operation across the Southwestern states and in an effort to keep an eye on the contentious military drill that’s sparked many suspicious of Uncle Sam’s intentions.

Eric Johnston, a 51-year-old retired firefighter and sheriff’s deputy who lives in Kerrville, is a surveillance team leader in Texas. He’ll coordinate three groups of volunteers, about 20 folks in total, who hope to monitor the SEALs, Green Berets and Air Force Special Ops in Bastrop, Big Spring and Junction when Jade Helm kicks off on July 15. With media prohibited at the drills, the volunteers could be a main source of information for the highly-anticipate seven-state exercise.

But locations more precise than the towns around which troops will drill remain unknown. For the citizens’ surveillance operation, therein lies the first challenge.

“If a team member sees two Humvees full of soldiers driving through town, they’re going to follow them,” Johnston said. “And they’re going to radio back their ultimate location.”

They aren’t worried about martial law, he said, but feel like they can’t trust the government, and want to make sure the Military isn’t under orders to pull anything funny. (Read more from “Texans Organize Operation Counter Jade Helm to Do This” HERE)

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Euro Zone Leaders: Greece Must Do More to Earn Rescue

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By Renee Maltezou and Andreas Rinke. Euro zone leaders told near-bankrupt Greece at an emergency summit on Sunday it must enact key reforms this week to restore trust before they will open talks on a financial rescue to keep it in the European currency area.

Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will be required to push legislation through parliament to convince his 18 partners in the euro zone to release immediate funds to avert a state bankruptcy and start negotiations on a third bailout program estimated at up to 86 billion euros ($95.5 billion).

Six sweeping measures including tax and pension reforms must be enacted by Wednesday night and the entire package endorsed by parliament before talks can start, a draft decision by Eurogroup finance ministers sent to the leaders showed.

The document included a German proposal to make Greece take a “time-out” from the euro zone if it fails to meet the conditions. But not all ministers endorsed the idea, which a senior EU source said was illegal and would not survive in the summit statement . . .

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is the biggest contributor to euro zone bailouts, said the conditions were not yet right to start negotiations, sounding cautious in deference to mounting opposition at home to more aid for Greece. (Read more from “Euro Zone Leaders: Greece Must Do More to Earn Rescue” HERE)


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Bewildered Greeks Left Wondering What Happened to Referendum ‘No’ Vote

By Nick Squires. Less than a week after they triumphantly gave international creditors a bloody nose by rejecting a harsh austerity plan, angry and bewildered Greeks are left wondering how they now find themselves swallowing an even worse deal.

In a nationwide referendum just last Sunday, nearly 62 per cent of voters rejected an austerity deal that had been offered by the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.

There were scenes of wild jubilation across the country.

In Athens’ Syntagma Square, the Greek answer to Trafalgar Square, thousands of joyous ‘No’ voters hugged and kissed each other, waved Greece’s national flag and swigged cans of beer.

“It was an expression of the will of the people,” Manos Agelidis, 27, a biomedical engineering PhD student, told The Telegraph as he celebrated with friends. (Read more from this story HERE)

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