Council Bans Pro-Life Protests Outside an Abortion Clinic

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The council in the borough of Ealing in West London has ruled that pro-life protesters must stay outside a “safe zone” around an abortion clinic. The motion passed the council unanimously . . .

The United Kingdom-based Catholic pro-life group, The Good Counsel Network, has protested outside a Marie Stopes abortion clinic in Ealing for years. Now the organization that runs that clinic has successfully petitioned the local government to keep them from doing so . . .

Clare McCullough, the director of The Good Counsel Network, told The Guardian, “The women we speak to are being offered a leaflet, offered help, and hundreds of women are accepting that vote. These are women who have no alternative but abortion – illegal immigrants, victims of domestic violence. We’re telling them there are alternatives if they want them.”

The ban will apply to all pro-life groups, not just The Good Counsel Network. For now, the ban appears to be limited to one Marie Stopes clinic in Ealing . . .

The Good Counsel Network insisted in a letter it sent to U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd that it does not intimidate women entering the clinic, show graphic images of abortion, or give inaccurate medical information, and that its actions are limited to handing out fliers and quietly praying from a distance. (Read more from “Council Bans Pro-Life Protests Outside an Abortion Clinic” HERE)

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Students Acquiring Massive Debt for ‘Risky’ College Degrees, More Than $25 Billion in Federal Loans

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Noël Flynn is spending more than 80 percent of her income to pay back tens of thousands of dollars in debt for her Art Therapy degree. In 2016 alone, the Department of Education loaned $25.9 billion to students who, like Flynn, chose degrees under the umbrella of the liberal arts and humanities, an analysis by The Daily Caller News Foundation found.

A significant portion of those students are unlikely to have the means to pay back their debt after graduating.

“I find myself struggling financially, and the biggest reason why is student loans,” said Flynn, 23, who says she was told the loans “wouldn’t be overwhelming” once she graduated.

Most federal student loan programs do not require a credit check, nor do they require a cosigner. Rather, the loans are backed by nothing more than the borrower’s future earnings with a college degree, but the kind of degree isn’t a consideration in the loan process.

“What you make depends on what you take,” Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, wrote in a 2016 report. “A major in social work pays $30,000 a year compared to $120,000 a year for a major in petroleum engineering.” Business, vocational, and STEM majors all have significantly better chances of paying off their loans, TheDCNF’s analysis of federal data shows. (Read more from “Students Acquiring Massive Debt for ‘Risky’ College Degrees, More Than $25 Billion in Federal Loans” HERE)

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Comedian Leftist Arrested for Alleged Bomb Threat

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Former “Silicon Valley” actor T.J. Miller, an outspoken leftist who was previously accused of sexual assault, has now been arrested for allegedly making a fake bomb threat from a train last month.

According to TheWrap, “Miller was arrested at LaGuardia Airport in New York City and was charged with intentionally conveying false information to law enforcement, which has a maximum sentence of five years jail time. He was released on $100,000 bail.”

The New York Department of Justice alleges that Miller made a false bomb threat on March 18 when he called the police from an Amtrak saying that a woman with brown hair and a brown scarf was carrying a bomb in her bag. Amtrak investigators immediately probed the train when it stopped in Westport, Connecticut, forcing the passengers off. They found nothing. More from TheWrap:

Later, an investigator contacted Miller about his claim. The DOJ said Miller’s description of the woman was different, and that the investigator detected slurring in his voice. Miller said the woman kept checking her bag — which he described as a ‘black bag carry on suitcase with a handle’ — without taking anything out. He also said she kept asking the first class attendant what the next stop was, and seemed to want to get off the train and leave her bag behind. When asked if he had been drinking, Miller said he only had one glass of wine.

(Read more from “Comedian Leftist Arrested for Alleged Bomb Threat” HERE)

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Boston Marathon Allows Male ‘Transgender’ Runners to Compete as Women

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By Life Site News. The annual Boston Marathon begins on Monday, April 16, but this year the event comes with a dose of transgender politics.

At least five men who openly identify as women are slated to compete next week, and will be recognized under their “gender identity” rather than their biological sex, the Associated Press reports.

“We take people at their word. We register people as they specify themselves to be,” Boston Athletic Association head Tom Grilk said. “Members of the LGBT community have had a lot to deal with over the years, and we’d rather not add to that burden.” He added that there was little debate over the decision within the organization.

The Boston Athletic Association clarified to NPR that while this is how the marathon will operate in practice, it has no written policy that specifically addresses transgendered runners.

“We don’t require that runners outline their gender identity history with us, so we can’t say for certain how many trans runners are in our race,” it said in a statement. “We do know that we have had several transgender runners in the past.” (Read more from “Boston Marathon Allows Male ‘Transgender’ Runners to Compete as Women” HERE)

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Boston, Other Marathons Say Trans Men Can Compete as Women

By AP. . .Several other major marathons said they have no official policies but are taking a similar approach to Boston. Organizers of the Chicago, New York City, London and Los Angeles marathons all said they honor the gender that runners submit during sign-ups.

“We want to be inclusive and sensitive to all of our participants,” said Carey Pinkowski, Chicago Marathon executive race director. “At this point, we don’t feel that we need to require legal or medical records or anything along those lines.” . . .

In elite competition, debate has mostly focused on transgender “women”, who typically require surgery or medication to lower their testosterone levels. Olympic officials issued new rules in 2016 saying trans women can compete if their testosterone levels stay beneath a certain limit, and many professional races now follow similar rules. (Read more from “Boston, Other Marathons Say Trans Women Can Compete as Women” HERE)

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Teacher Uses School Walkout to Have Sex With Student

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By The New York Post. A married teacher in Oklahoma was arrested for allegedly having sex with a student amid the statewide teacher walkout.

Keri Hoffman, 35, admitted to police Saturday that she had sex with a 15-year-old student before and after they attended a massive teacher rally protesting pay cuts at the state Capitol, news station KWSO reported.

Hoffman, a Clinton Middle School teacher, and the teen reportedly became sexually involved on the last day of classes before the strike began April 2, according to news station KFOR.

She went with her husband Saturday to the police department, where she allegedly confessed to having sex with the student on numerous occasions. (Read more from “Teacher Uses School Walkout to Have Sex With Student” HERE)

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Teacher Drove Student to Oklahoma Walkout. She Had Sex With Him Before and After, Cops Say

By The Wichita Eagle. . .Keri Hoffman, a 35-year-old middle school algebra teacher, told police she’d had sex multiple times with a 15-year-old student — including during the ongoing teacher walkout in the state.

Hoffman was charged with two counts of second degree rape and one count of facilitating sexual conduct or communicating with a minor by use of technology, authorities said in a news release. She was booked at Custer County Jail, with bond set at $30,000.

Hoffman told police she’d taken a group of students, including the 15-year-old victim, to the state Capitol in Oklahoma City to take part in the protest.

“Hoffman picked him up first and dropped him off last, having sex with him each time,” police said. (Read more from “Teacher Drove Student to Oklahoma Walkout. She Had Sex With Him Before and After, Cops Say” HERE)

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SCAM: Biggest Black Lives Matter Page on Facebook Is Fake

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By The Daily Wire. The biggest page on Facebook purporting to be part of the Black Lives Matter movement had alleged ties to a middle-aged white Australian man; some of the money it raised went to Australian bank accounts. According to CNN, even when Facebook was alerted to the issue, months went by before action was taken, and that was only after CNN spent a week sending emails and making phone calls to Facebook to tell them they were going to run the story.

The page was titled “Black Lives Matter,” and had roughly 700,000 followers on Facebook, more than double the official Black Lives Matter page. CNN reports, “It was tied to online fundraisers that brought in at least $100,000 that supposedly went to Black Lives Matter causes in the U.S. At least some of the money, however, was transferred to Australian bank accounts.” . . .

The creators of the page supervised a Facebook Group titled “Black Lives Matter” which had almost 40,000 members. The page frequently linked to websites tied to Ian Mackay, a National Union of Workers official . . .

Last week, CNN informed Facebook, but when CNN delineated how the page’s linked to fundraising accounts suspended on other platforms, Facebook responded that it had found the page “didn’t show anything that violated our Community Standards.” But by Monday morning, Facebook disabled the BP Parker profile for violating its community standards, which in turn disabled the page, according to a company spokesperson. (Read more from “SCAM: Biggest Black Lives Matter Page on Facebook Is Fake” HERE)

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Facebook Had Been Alerted Numerous Times About Fake Activist Page

By CNN. Fundraising campaigns associated with the Facebook page were suspended by PayPal and Patreon after CNN contacted each of the companies for comment. Donorbox and Classy had already removed the campaigns.

The discovery raises new questions about the integrity of Facebook’s platform and the content hosted there. In the run-up to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress this week, Facebook has announced plans to make the people running large pages verify their identity and location. But it’s not clear that the change would affect this page: Facebook has not said what information about page owners it will disclose to the public — and, presented with CNN’s findings, Facebook initially said the page didn’t violate its “Community Standards.”

Only after almost a week of emails and calls between CNN and Facebook about this story did Facebook suspend the page, and then only because it had suspended a user account that administrated the page. (Read more form “The Biggest Black Lives Matter Page on Facebook Is Fake” HERE)

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Harvard Accused of Waging a War on Christianity… and It Doesn’t Look Good

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Two months ago Harvard University suspended a Christian student group for having asked one of its leaders to step down after the group learned that she was involved in a homosexual relationship with another female student.

One month later the Undergraduate Council defunded the Harvard College Faith and Action group entirely, thus effectively putting it out of commission.

Speaking Sunday on Fox News, religious commentator Sohrab Ahmari warned that the 382-year-old institution’s actions are “part of a bigger pattern” being seen throughout the country.

“It’s part of a bigger pattern where you begin to question whether we really still live in a free society,” he said. “In many areas of life, particularly in culture, entertainment, journalism and academia especially … people feel there is this pervasive, low-grade pressure that you have to conform your opinions to the latest liberal orthodoxy.” . . .

Late last year the members of a student group at Georgetown University that champions traditional marriage were forced by the school to publicly defend their views after LGBT students accused them of promoting hatred. (Read more from “Harvard Accused of Waging a War on Christianity … and It Doesn’t Look Good” HERE)

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Student Government Impeaches Student for Conservative Views

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By Campus Reform. The University of Illinois Student Government voted Wednesday to impeach a conservative student based primarily on his political activity.

Andrew Minik, president of Turning Point USA at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was impeached from his position as Chair of the Committee of Diversity and Inclusion (CoDI) after enduring a hearing that included accusations of using his own minority status to marginalize other minorities.

The articles of impeachment specifically cited Minik’s role in organizing a memorial wall for victims of illegal immigration among his offenses, alongside accusations that he has been delinquent in some of the paperwork required of the CoDI Chair.

The complaints against Minik, brought forth to the student assembly by President-elect Walter Lindwall and Vice President-elect Alice Zheng, accuse him of failing to “maintain a respectful decorum of fellow members of the campus community, maintain a welcoming environment for any individual regardless of opinion or background, and work consistently for the betterment of the organization, the student body, and the campus as a whole,” according to the ISG agenda docket for articles of impeachment.

The document further alleges that Minik “has, on multiple occasions, failed to distribute packets, notify the cancellation of committees, and has acted with bias in his role as chair in several instances,” as well as that he “failed to submit a statistical report of the diversity of the government by the February deadline.” (Read more from “Student Government Impeaches Student for Conservative Views” HERE)

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Protesters Converge on UI Quad as Student Conservatives Build ‘Wall’

By The News-Gazette. Joel Valdez, coordinator for the UI chapter of Turning Point USA, said the goal of the wall was to start a conversation.

“We’re here to highlight the people that have been killed by illegal immigrants,” said Valdez, 19. “These victims are often overlooked and ignored. We’re here to tell people their story.”

Since their protest is a silent one, protesters were hesitant to speak with The News-Gazette.

Just next to the wall, the Latina sorority Kappa Delta Chi held a fundraising event, selling nachos, horchata and Flaming Hot Cheetos.

Jessica Diaz, a Kappa Delta Chi sister and UI sophomore, said she admired the protesters’ commitment. She added that she was happy to see non-Hispanics joining the ranks of protesters. (Read more from “Protesters Converge on UI Quad as Student Conservatives Build ‘Wall'” HERE)

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Air Force Colonel Who Refused to ‘Appreciate’ Gay Man’s Spouse Wins Appeal

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Decorated Air Force combat pilot Col. Leland Bohannon, who was stripped of his command and denied promotion opportunity for refusing to sign a certificate of appreciation for a retiree’s gay spouse, has won an appeal affirming religious liberty.

Bohannon did not sign the “optional, unofficial” spouse appreciation letter because he has a deeply-held religious objection to gay marriage and did not want to appear to endorse an immoral union – so, he had a superior, a two-star general, sign it.

But, that wasn’t good enough for the indignant gay retiree, who filed a complaint against Bohannon, “Stars and Stripes” reports:

“When the retiring master sergeant found out that Bohannon did not personally sign the spouse certificate, he filed an Equal Opportunity complaint, alleging the colonel unlawfully discriminated against him on the basis of his sexual orientation.”

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“The Air Force substantiated the airman’s allegations, and Bohannon was subsequently removed from command and for consideration for promotion. He appealed the decision in October.”

(Read more from “Air Force Colonel Who Refused to ‘Appreciate’ Gay Man’s Spouse Wins Appeal” HERE)

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Male Democrat Accused of Using Senate’s Women’s Restroom

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State police in Colorado have reportedly posted signage and changed the access code to a previously unmarked women’s restroom inside the state Capitol building in Denver, based on complaints that a male Democratic state senator had frequently been using the room, according to media reports.

The lawmaker in question, state Sen. Daniel Kagan, disputes the accusation, saying he used the women’s restroom just one time, by mistake, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

But in March, state Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik filed a workplace sexual harassment complaint against Kagan, contending he had used the women’s restroom “multiple times.”

She claimed, in an interview with KUNC radio, she personally encountered Kagan in the restroom and asked “What are you doing in here?,” and claims other women who work in the Capitol have had “similar experiences.” . . .

The report mentions that Kagan was among a group of Democratic senators who called for the ouster of Republican state Sen. Randy Baumgardner, who had been accused of groping an aide in 2016.

(Read more from “Male Democrat Accused of Using Senate’s Women’s Restroom” HERE)

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