Vet Tweets He’s Going to Kill Himself. Then James Woods Launches Effort to Save Him.

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On Monday night, actor James Woods went all-in to help save a suicidal veteran who had tweeted that he was going to kill himself. Although the vet deleted his tweets, a look at Woods’ tweets gives a pretty clear idea of the dialogue Woods initiated and Woods’ efforts to help keep the vet talking while Woods launched a search to find him. In the process, Woods showed his empathy by acknowledging that he, too, like most people, had experienced some depression at one time in his life, and encouraged the vet to hold on so that he could be an inspiration to other vets who experience the same feelings.

(Read more from “Vet Tweets He’s Going to Kill Himself. Then James Woods Launches Effort to Save Him.” HERE)

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Here’s How Much Turkey It Takes to Feed the Heroes Who Can’t Come Home This Week

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American troops stationed around the world will spend their Thanksgiving Day away from their loved ones. Turns out it takes a lot of chow to give our heroes abroad the holiday dinners they deserve.

According to a report at CNBC, the Pentagon has delivered over 300,000 pounds of traditional Thanksgiving food to personnel stationed in places like the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, as well as those currently at the southern U.S. border.

According to the report, the list of food shipped includes:

9,738 whole turkeys

51,234 pounds of roasted turkey

74,036 pounds of beef

21,758 pounds of ham

67,860 pounds of shrimp

16,284 pounds of sweet potatoes

81,360 pies

19,284 cakes

7,836 gallons of eggnog

That’s a lot of food, and the sheer volume serves to remind us just how many of our fellow Americans are currently giving up quality time and annual traditions with their famies in the course of their service.

This year, as you take inventory of all the things you have to be thankful for, don’t forget those who sacrifice to keep this country safe and secure. (For more from the author of “Here’s How Much Turkey It Takes to Feed the Heroes Who Can’t Come Home This Week” please click HERE)

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Nineteen States Ask the Supreme Court to Uphold Down Syndrome Abortion Ban

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A coalition of 19 state attorneys general filed a friend of the court brief late last week asking the Supreme Court to review and uphold a 2016 Indiana law which bans abortions that are chosen solely due to a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. The law also bars other discriminatory abortions chosen solely because of other disabilities, biological sex, or race.

Last month, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill asked the Supreme Court to review the law after the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the measure, finding it to be “unconstitutional.”

The coalition, led by Wisconsin’s attorney general, argued in the brief that the measure “furthers the State’s compelling interest in prohibiting the discriminatory elimination of classes of human beings by race, gender, or disability.”

“The Seventh Circuit invalidated this law by purporting to find within this Court’s case law a ‘categorical’ right to pre-viability abortion,” the brief noted, “a right that a State cannot infringe no matter how powerful its interest…That conclusion is legally wrong and would perversely place the unenumerated right to pre-viability abortion above even core protections of the Bill of Rights.”

They pointed out that if laws to prohibit discrimination against the Down syndrome community in other areas are under the authority of the state then preventing abortion practices that could eliminate the community should also be within the state’s authority. (Read more from “Nineteen States Ask the Supreme Court to Uphold Down Syndrome Abortion Ban” HERE)

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NYT Gives You Advice on How to Argue With Your Liberal/Conservative Uncle at Thanksgiving Dinner. It’s Ridiculous.

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On Tuesday, The New York Times published a piece designed to teach you how to most productive argue with your conservative or liberal uncle at the Thanksgiving table. Unfortuantely, the piece essentially argued that the best way to argue with your conservative uncle was to wait for him to admit that his support for President Trump was foolhardy and ignorant, and that the best way to argue with your liberal uncle was to agree with him. . .

The author of the piece, Dr. Karin Tamerius, a former psychiatrist and founder of Smart Politics, says that she has developed a “five-step method to help people have difficult conversations.” She then applies that method to arguing with one of your two politically-driven uncles. . .

You are advised not to ask about the definition of rights or who would pay for Medicare for All, because that would be offputting. Instead, ask Liberal Uncle why he’s so wonderful. And he’ll sure tell you! . . .

In the end, the Times insists that you ought to simply agree with Liberal Uncle and assume Conservative Uncle is a dunce. After all, as Tamerius explains, every liberal change begins with your stupid Conservative Uncle:

The civil rights movement, the women’s movement, the antiwar movement, the gay rights movement, the struggle for marriage equality – all gained acceptance through difficult conversations among family members who initially disagreed vehemently with one another.

(Read more from “NYT Gives You Advice on How to Argue With Your Liberal/Conservative Uncle at Thanksgiving Dinner. It’s Ridiculous.” HERE)

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Americans Disagree About What Racism Is, and It’s a Big Problem

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According to a recent NBC News poll, 62 percent of Americans polled said racism is a “major problem.” Last year, Gallup found that 42 percent are “very worried about race relations.” In 2001, when Gallup began that survey, the percentage was only 28 percent, and in 2010 it was a mere 13 percent.

There are many plausible explanations for this jump, including a spate of media-highlighted, race-related police shootings and the controversial presidency of Donald Trump. What is less clear is how our society can reverse this trend. One tremendous obstacle to improving race relations is that Americans cannot even agree on what racism is.

There are two basic definitions of racism in the United States, one roughly associated with progressives and one roughly associated with conservatives. The former describes racism as the failure to acknowledge and seek to redress systemic discrimination against select disadvantaged minority groups. It is very broad and captures everything from unconscious bias to white supremacy. The latter views racism as making assumptions about, or taking action towards, an individual or group on the sole basis of their race. It is narrow and generally requires belief, intent, and animosity.

These definitions don’t simply differ; to a great extent they actually contradict each other. Much of the contradiction stems from the fact that the progressive definition of racism requires that an advantaged individual or group must be attacking the less privileged. The more conservative and narrow definition of racism requires no appeal to power structures, only to bias, and can be committed by anyone towards anyone.

A very current example of this disagreement over the term can be seen in the media’s treatment of white women after the 2016 and 2018 elections. Many progressives have argued that white women voted in a racist manner in order to uphold their privileged place in the white male patriarchy. Many conservatives balk at this and claim a double standard exists, since a white person making similar attacks on a minority group would be almost certainly be called racist. (Read more from “Americans Disagree About What Racism Is, and It’s a Big Problem” HERE)

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Reporter Claims She’s Never Met Someone With an AR-15 Who Wasn’t a Killer, Gets Roasted

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By Daily Wire. Over the weekend, Newsweek writer Nina Burleigh discovered that law-abiding, gun-owning Americans take offense when you claim they’re all “mass murderers.”

Responding to Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-CA) suggestion that gun owners who resist government authorities who might confiscate their weapons could be literally nuked from orbit, Burleigh decided to wax poetic on why, exactly, she felt the nation’s 15,000,000 or so legally owned AR-15 rifles should be immediately taken from their owners.

No AR-15 owner she’s met, Burleigh said, has been anything short of a mass murderer.

. . .

The math didn’t occur to Burleigh, however, or the fact that a vast majority of AR-15 owners are hunters, target shooters, and former members of the military who wanted to take home a small piece of military technology. The vast majority of AR-15 owners are also, of course, not homicidal maniacs.

(Read more from “Reporter Claims She’s Never Met Someone With an Ar-15 Who Wasn’t a Killer, Gets Roasted” HERE)

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Newsweek Writer: Only AR-15 Owners I Know Are Mass Murderers

By The Daily Caller. Newsweek writer Nina Burleigh claimed Saturday that almost every person she has heard of who owns an AR-15 rifle “has been a mass murderer.”

And “based on Twitter sample the rest of them are scarily paranoid,” Burleigh tweeted.

“Get on the right side of history,” she urged, tagging NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch and right-wing personality Joe Biggs, who are both outspoken supporters of the Second Amendment.

AR-15 rifles were used in the Newtown school shooting, the Orlando nightclub shooting, the Aurora, Colorado shooting at a movie theater, and other mass shootings. An estimated 8 million to 15 million people own AR-15s, making it the most popular rifle in America. (Read more from “Newsweek Writer: Only AR-15 Owners I Know Are Mass Murderers” HERE)

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Canada’s Trudeau Is Trying to Slip the LGBT Agenda Into the Trade Deal. These GOP Lawmakers Are Pushing Back

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There’s a language fight brewing with the LGBT lobby over the new trilateral agreement, and — what a surprise — it looks like far-left Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is behind it.

The Hill reports that a group of 38 GOP lawmakers has sent a letter to President Trump over proposed trade deal language meant to prevent sex discrimination. The problem is that the language equates “sexual orientation and gender identity” (SOGI) with sex.

“A trade agreement is no place for the adoption of social policy,” congressmen explained in a the letter dated November 16. “It is especially inappropriate and insulting to our sovereignty to needlessly submit to social policies which the United States Congress has so far explicitly refused to accept.”

“The inclusion of SOGI as part of the definition of ‘sex’ in a trade agreement or the elevation of SOGI to the level of sex will cause unnecessary confusion in future international treaties as well as domestic laws and policies,” the lawmakers conclude. “It sets a dangerous precedent for courts and future Administrations to build upon.”

The language was proposed by Trudeau, who called it a “big win” for the LGBT lobby, Politico reports.

If this issue gets any more traction from the legacy media and the LGBT activist cadre, you can bet your next paycheck that it will be presented in terms of the big, bad Republican congressmen begging the Orange Man™ to further strip away rights from gay and transgender people. The playbook has become pretty predictable.

What will most likely be left out, however, is that American proponents of this kind of policy have had all the time in the world to make this pitch to their fellow citizens and have thus far failed. The American people, via their representatives in Congress, have considered the same kind sort of legislation (the Employee Nondiscrimination Act) in nearly every session since 1994. And they’ve perennially decided against it. Yes, that even includes when Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid were all running the show at the same time. (For more from the author of “Canada’s Trudeau Is Trying to Slip the LGBT Agenda Into the Trade Deal. These GOP Lawmakers Are Pushing Back” please click HERE)

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School Bans Expensive Coats – Including Christmas Gifts – to Avoid ‘Poverty Shaming’

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By The Blaze. . .Parents of students at Woodchurch High School [in England] were reportedly given a letter from the school that stated, “Pupils will not be permitted to bring in Canadian [sic] Goose and Monclair [sic] coats after the Christmas break.” . . .

About 46 percent of the school’s students are considered low-income, according to reports. For example, the school provides free sanitary products and limits backpacks to a certain type, so parents aren’t pressured to buy ones that are more expensive. . .

Woodchurch is an open-admission co-ed secondary school serving 11-to 16-year-olds, the Washington Post reported. It’s also a Church of England academy and cites a ‘Christian Ethos’ as a part of its learning environment. The school also strives to celebrate diversity and make everyone feel welcome. . .

“Canada Goose opened its first flagship stores in Toronto and New York in 2016. And its coats are hardly the preserve of iconoclast explorers,” according to the Washington Post. “They’re ubiquitous in well-heeled circles, prompting backlash and making the coats a potent symbol of vexed class dynamics.”

The coats could cause problems for students whose parents can’t afford the $1,000 Canada Goose jackets, which feature an inverted North Pole and maple leaves. (Read more from “School Bans Expensive Coats – Including Christmas Gifts – to Avoid ‘Poverty Shaming’” HERE)

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School Bans Designer Coats to Stop ‘Poverty Shaming’

. . .Headteacher Rebekah Phillips told The Independent parents had asked the school introduce the ban.

“We are very concerned about the fact that our children put a lot of pressure on parents to buy them expensive coats,” she said. . .

Those pupils who did not have expensive outerwear were upset, she continued. “They feel stigmatised, they feel left out, they feel inadequate,” she said.

Parents had previously had the problem with children requesting designer rucksacks, which increased the price of attending school, the headteacher said. (Read more from “School Bans Designer Coats to Stop ‘Poverty Shaming’” HERE)

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Whistleblower Teacher Says 17 Students Are Changing Genders, Some Were ‘Tricked’

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Seventeen students at a British school are changing their genders and most of them who are undergoing the process are autistic, according to a teacher there, the Daily Mail reported. . .

The teacher, a 20-year veteran who asked to not be identified for fear of losing her job, told the news outlet she spoke out to help protect students. She said she believes schools and some politicians are peddling a politically-correct “fallacy” driven by “ a powerful transgender lobby.” . . .

She said many of the children believe they are the wrong sex because it helps them cope with problems caused by autism. Only a few of them have gender dysphoria a medical term used to describe someone who believes they were born “in the wrong body.”

Earlier in the year, the Daily Mail reported that one-third of children referred to the National Health Service in England had ‘moderate to severe autistic traits’. In all, “150 autistic teenagers were given puberty blocker drugs which stop the body maturing.” . . .

Regarding the student who is set to undergo a mastectomy, Carol said the child was diagnosed as autistic at age 14 and “certainly was not transgender. She had other complicated mental health problems. It is a tragedy her claim was accepted so readily. Now she is going to mutilate her body.” (Read more from “Whistleblower Teacher Says 17 Students Are Changing Genders, Some Were ‘Tricked’” HERE)

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Gamers Outraged Over City’s New ‘Amusement Tax’

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PlayStation just announced that due to a new “amusement tax,” any person with a billing address in Chicago will have to pay a 9 percent tax on essentially anything purchased through PlayStation, Steam, and other online services. That’s right, you can now be taxed for having fun in the privacy of your own home, and gamers are outraged.

Many cities have a so-called “amusement tax,” including cities in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Tennessee, Florida, and Wisconsin. But most states focus on taxing things like arcade games or music venues. The tax imposed in Chicago specifically targets digital media, such as the games themselves or access to participation (such as PlayStation Plus).

According to the tax ruling, the amusement tax classifies “Amusement” as meaning: (1) any exhibition, performance, presentation, or show for entertainment purposes, (2) any entertainment or recreational activity offered for public participation or on a membership or other basis, and (3) any paid television programming. . .

Not only does this affect PlayStation users, but also Steam users, and Xbox users have been paying this tax since last year. It is not the best time to be a gamer. Lately, gamers have felt bombarded by annoyances such as game companies increasing micro-transactions to try to squeeze every last penny out of their users, and being socially tarred as sexist, racist pigs due to video game design and a largely male user base. Now they are being singled out by Uncle Sam.

Gamers have taken to Reddit to express feelings of shock and disgust, as well as discuss what this means for the future of gaming. Reddit user Mulligen87 said “Chicagoan here. We already have one of the highest tax rates in the country ‘cause we have to pay a state, county, and city tax on top of whatever we buy. Looks like I might be traveling out to the suburbs more now to have fun. When a city is both broke and corrupt, they’re gonna tax you in every way possible.” (Read more from “Gamers Outraged Over City’s New ‘Amusement Tax’” HERE)

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