Gamer Banned From Youtube for Showing You Can Kill Someone in Game About Killing

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The YouTuber who posted a video of a character punching a suffragette in Rockstar Games’ “Red Dead Redemption 2” (RDR2) was briefly banned from the platform. . .

At one point during his playthrough, he went to the tailor’s shop in the game city of Saint Denis, which is based on New Orleans. Outside the shop is a non-playable character (NPC) who constantly shouts “Let me vote!” and insults men. Every game has at least one annoying NPC, and this is just one of many in the game.

While in the tailor shop, the suffragette’s dialogue can still be heard clearly. It clashes with the dialogue of the shopkeeper (if you have subtitles on, as I do, the two dialogues stack on top of each other in a distracting way), and forces you to listen to “Let me vote” over and over and over again while you shop for clothes.

Shirrako had enough. When he left the shop, he directed RDR2’s anti-hero, Arthur Morgan, to punch the suffragette in the face, knocking her unconscious. Viewers of his livestream enjoyed this moment, so Shirrako posted a clip of it separately on his YouTube channel. Shirrako went on later to post two more videos of his character attacking this particular NPC, including one where he kidnaps her and takes her to the swamp to be fed to an alligator.

These videos angered a Motherboard writer, who complained that the videos promoted violence against women. As I reported on Tuesday, Shirrako has many other clips from the game where he attacks innocent NPCs, including children and the mayor of a town, but because he attacked a feminist, he must be punished. (Read more from “Gamer Banned From Youtube for Showing You Can Kill Someone in Game About Killing” HERE)

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When I Was Born in the United States to Non-Citizens, America Did Not Owe Me Citizenship

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Scholars infinitely more qualified than I have arguments on both sides of both issues, and I won’t delve into that thicket. But, as a profound beneficiary of “birthright” citizenship, I do have a view on the aspect of jus soli citizenship that we have come to deem a “birthright”: it doesn’t exist.

I was born in California to Indian parents on student visas. My dad was enrolled in a PhD program, while my mom was working to support our family. My birth on American soil about halfway through my dad’s program automatically meant I was eligible for U.S. citizenship.

My parents’ Indian citizenship meant they had a choice: I could be an Indian or an American, but I couldn’t be both, since India didn’t recognize dual citizenship. For them, it was a no-brainer — I would be the first American in my family. But I never had a “birthright” to be one. . .

My American citizenship, however, was an altogether different story. I had no natural right nor owed claim to citizenship of a country just because I was born within its geographical boundaries. Nor did my parents have the right to bestow upon me a citizenship they did not possess.

In fact, they had been allowed entry into the United States after satisfactorily convincing its government that they would only be visitors in a foreign land. In the eyes of everyone, including their own, they were temporary visitors in a country not their own. My birth to my parents, therefore, only gave me access to the rights that they had to pass on to me — rights of Indian citizenship. (Read more from “When I Was Born in the United States to Non-Citizens, America Did Not Owe Me Citizenship” HERE)

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The Award for Best Election Day Ad Goes to… Delta Air Lines?

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The best Election Day ad, far and away, came from an entirely unexpected and non-political entity. Delta Air Lines released a new commercial Tuesday, on Election Day, saying that there is more that unites Americans than divides us.

“When you rise above the noise, the tweets, the talking heads, what you hear and what you see are two different things,” a narrator says.

“You hear about how ‘we’re a nation divided,’ yet from where we sit, we see no such thing.”

It’s a needed message of unity. Thank you, Delta. (For more from the author of “The Award for Best Election Day Ad Goes to… Delta Air Lines?” please click HERE)

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9 Years Into Common Core, Test Scores Are Down, Indoctrination

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It’s been about nine years since the Obama administration lured states into adopting Common Core sight unseen, with promises it would improve student achievement. Like President Obama’s other big promises — “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” — this one’s been proven a scam.

“If you set and enforce rigorous and challenging standards and assessments; if you put outstanding teachers at the front of the classroom; if you turn around failing schools — your state can win a Race to the Top grant that will not only help students outcompete workers around the world, but let them fulfill their God-given potential,” President Obama said in July 2009. . .

ACT scores released earlier this month show that students’ math achievement is at a 20-year low. The latest English ACT scores are slightly down since 2007, and students’ readiness for college-level English was at its lowest level since ACT’s creators began measuring that item, in 2002. Students’ preparedness for college-level math is at its lowest point since 2004.

SAT scores also dropped post-Common Core until it fully implemented a new version tailored for Common Core. How convenient. Even after the test was overhauled to match Common Core, average test scores increased by 0.7 percent in the most recent results. It represents almost no difference to pre-Common Core results, and the public can’t know exactly how the scores were recentered and altered, either.

In all the previous SAT overhauls, average scores technically went up but statistical analyses show they’ve actually been steadily losing ground over the past 60 years. In other words, the SAT has a history of score inflation, and Common Core is doing nothing to reverse that.

(Read more from “9 Years Into Common Core, Test Scores Are Down, Indoctrination Up” HERE)

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Don’t Mess With This Mama: Mother of 3 Shoots Home Invader

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A South Carolina mother of three protected her children and her home with her firearm when a stranger attempted to enter her house last week.

At 6:30 a.m. last Thursday, Ashley Jones says she heard someone banging on the door of her home in Anderson County, South Carolina, Fox Carolina reports.

After investigating the noise, Jones called 911 and grabbed her gun. She says she walked downstairs and saw a man in a red shirt knocking on her window by the front door.

“I yelled, ‘I have a gun, I will shoot you, get away from my house,’” Jones said.

She described how the man and a second person attempted to enter the home through the back door and then the garage door. Returning to the front, the man kicked the door in, and Jones fired her weapon. She says she hit the invader and he ran away.

“Something just came over me, and I got calm. My heart slowed down and I got focused. I told myself if he comes in here, you can’t let him get past your doorstep. You have three young children to protect,” Jones said.

She added that if he had continued to enter her home, she would have fired again.

“I would’ve killed him if I had to.”

After the incident, Jones said she’s glad to be a gun owner and to have the proper training to use her weapon.

“If I didn’t have a weapon, I wouldn’t have been able to fight him off,” Jones said.

Police have the primary suspect in custody and say his wounds are not life-threatening. There is no known connection between the suspect and the homeowner. (For more from the author of “Don’t Mess With This Mama: Mother of 3 Shoots Home Invader” please click HERE)

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Huge: Kavanaugh Accuser Admits She Was Lying

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A woman who accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault admitted to congressional investigators she made up her claims to “get attention.”

According to a letter sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Friday afternoon, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley referred Judy Munro-Leighton for criminal prosecution and revealed her actions were part of a ploy to take down Kavanaugh’s nomination. . .

Given her relatively unique name, Committee investigators were able to use open-source research to locate Ms. Munro-Leighton and determine that she: (1) is a left-wing activist; (2) is decades older than Judge Kavanaugh; and (3) lives in neither the Washington DC area nor California, but in Kentucky.

On November 1, 2018, Committee investigators connected with Ms. Munro-Leighton by phone and spoke with her about the sexual-assault allegations against Judge Kavanaugh she had made to the Committee. Under questioning by Committee investigators, Ms. Munro-Leighton admitted, contrary to her prior claims, that she had not been sexually assaulted by Judge Kavanaugh and was not the author of the original “Jane Doe” letter. When directly asked by Committee investigators if she was, as she had claimed, the “Jane Doe” from Oceanside California who had sent the letter to Senator Harris, she admitted: “No, no, no. I did that as a way to grab attention.

She further confessed to Committee investigators that (1) she “just wanted to get attention”; (2) “it was a tactic”; and (3) “that was just a ploy.” She told Committee investigators that she had called Congress multiple times during the Kavanaugh hearing process – including prior to the time Dr. Ford’s allegations surfaced – to oppose his nomination.

(Read more from “Huge: Kavanaugh Accuser Admits She Was Lying” HERE)

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Border Wall Costume Leads to Administrative Leave for 14 School Employees

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Fourteen Idaho school employees were put on administrative leave after wearing costumes of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall and outfits that depicted Mexicans.

Middleton School District Superintendent Josh Middleton made the announcement Saturday morning after a special board meeting that addressed the costumes. A letter to the district’s community and parents outlined steps the district would take following the politically-charged costumes.

The plan includes having security at Middleton Heights Elementary School, having the District’s “Crisis Team” to “support the social-emotional well-being, for students, staff and parents,” and cultural sensitivity training for staff.

“Middleton is under a microscope, and I view this as an opportunity to learn and grow from this incident, and even more create enhanced learning environments where Every Child Learning Every Day is wrapped in Every Child Shown Kindness, Respect and Love Everyday,” Middleton wrote.

Photos of the school employees wearing sombreros and ponchos to represent Mexicans and a border wall costume that read “Make America Great Again” were posted on the school’s Facebook page Thursday night, but were later removed. Screenshots of the pictures went viral, according to The Associated Press. (Read more from “Border Wall Costume Leads to Administrative Leave for 14 School Employees” HERE)

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Young Activists Can Sue Government Over Climate Change, Supreme Court Says

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By NPR. A group of young people can sue the federal government over its climate change policies, the Supreme Court said Friday. Since it was first filed in 2015, the government has requested several times that Juliana v. United States be dismissed.

“I want to trust that we are truly on track for trial without having further delays,” Kelsey Juliana, a 22-year-old plaintiff, said in a statement, “but these defendants are treating this case, our democracy, and the security of mine and future generations like it’s a game. I’m tired of playing this game.” . . .

The lawsuit — brought by 21 plaintiffs, many of whom are minors, in U.S. district court in Eugene, Ore. — claims the federal government encouraged the production of oil, gas and other fossil fuels, causing the planet to warm and infringing on several of the plaintiffs’ fundamental rights. It lists examples that the government knew the Earth was warming as early as 1965, and it requests a court order for the government to decrease carbon dioxide emissions as well as the creation of a national plan to “restore Earth’s energy balance” and “stabilize the climate system.” (Read more from “Young Activists Can Sue Government Over Climate Change, Supreme Court Says” HERE)

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Supreme Court Refuses to Block Young People’s Climate Change Lawsuit Against U.S. Government

By The Independent. . .The court’s three-page order said the government should seek relief before the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

It noted the government’s assertion that the “suit is based on an assortment of unprecedented legal theories, such as a substantive due process right to certain climate conditions, and an equal protection right to live in the same climate as enjoyed by prior generations”.

The justices acknowledged that the 9th Circuit had previously turned down the government, but said those decisions came when there was a “likelihood that plaintiffs’ claims would narrow as the case progressed”.

That no longer seems the case, the unsigned opinion said, suggesting the possibility that the 9th Circuit might see things differently now. . .

The plaintiffs in the case range in age from 11 to 22. The goal of their lawsuit is to compel the government to scale back its support for fossil fuel extraction and production and to support policies aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. (Read more from “Supreme Court Refuses to Block Young People’s Climate Change Lawsuit Against U.S. Government” HERE)

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Priest: Leaders Must Stop Pushing Lie That God Makes Some People Gay

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There’s a terrible problem with the Catholic Church when some of its leaders are pushing LGBT propaganda in conflict with Church teachings, Canonist Father Gerald Murray said recently, and true accompaniment means telling a same-sex attracted person not to act upon their sexual inclination.

Murray and The Catholic Thing Editor-in-chief Robert Royal offered straight talk on Catholic teaching once again on the Oct. 25 edition of EWTN’s World Over program when discussing the just concluded Youth Synod.

Host Raymond Arroyo asked the two about the significance of the Church working with the term “LGBT” as part of the Youth Synod. Despite not having surfaced in pre-Synod discussions the term LGBT did get inserted into the Synod’s working document – the first time for such ideologically-driven language to be included in a Vatican document.

“It is a terrible problem for the Church, precisely because some of the leadership is pushing the line that Father James Martin has been pushing in his books and speeches, which is that God made you this way,” Murray said. “And the assertions made: God made me a homosexual, God made me a bisexual, God made me a transgender person – and this is not true.” . . .

“It does not include committing acts of sodomy, it does not include saying that God made me a male, but I really am a female, and therefore I’m a female,” he said. “And it does not include people having sex with people of both sexes and claiming this is their divine vocation.” (Read more from “Priest: Catholic Leaders Must Stop Pushing Lie That God Makes Some People Gay” HERE)

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Trump Encourages Adoption: It ‘Signals Every Child – Born or Unborn – Is Wanted and Loved’

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This week, President Donald Trump issued his second annual proclamation for National Adoption Month, hailing both adopting children and placing them for adoption as acts of love that enrich American society.

“Adoption is a blessing for all involved. It provides needed relief to birth parents, who may not, for whatever reason, be in a position to raise a child,” the president said Wednesday. “It fosters loving homes for children. It enables individuals to grow their families and share their love. And it fosters strong families, which are integral to ensuring strong communities and a resilient country.”

“Adoption affirms the inherent value of human life and signals that every child – born or unborn – is wanted and loved,” Trump continued. “Children, regardless of race, sex, age, or disability, deserve a loving embrace into families they can call their own. This month, we honor the thousands of American families who have grown because of adoption.”

The president specifically highlighted adoption’s power to “show women they are not alone in an unexpected pregnancy,” called for continued assistance for families willing to adopt, and pledged support for children in foster care. . .

“I encourage all Americans to observe this month by helping children in need of a permanent home secure a more promising future with a forever family, so they may enter adulthood with the love and support we all deserve,” Trump concluded. (Read more from “Trump Encourages Adoption: It ‘Signals Every Child – Born or Unborn – Is Wanted and Loved’” HERE)

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