Previously on This Just In…

The update:

Forbid Your Children to Have TikTok Now!

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on March 23, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

By Roger Simon
March 26, 2023

Unless you would like the People’s Republic of China to rule the world, do not allow your children to have TikTok.

If they disobey your parental edict, take away their cellphones and computers—it’s that serious.

Don’t wait for Congress to do anything about this. That’s like Waiting for Godot. Do it yourself.

Take parental responsibility, something sorely lacking in our country. Do it for yourself, your family, and the United States of America.

This isn’t because of the data that TikTok mines, as bad as that is.

That’s mined everywhere, including by our own government, their intelligence agencies, the FBI, and multiple tech companies that we’ve learned work in cahoots with them.

Privacy no longer exists, and it’s hard to imagine how it will be recovered.

But the real problem is worse than that.

The overweening danger of the Chinese-owned company, its real intention, as Gordon Chang just explained on Newsmax and should be evident to all, after TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s evasive testimony before Congress, is mind control.

That’s your mind, my mind, and, most of all, your kid’s mind, with 150 million Americans—nearly half the country—currently on TikTok.

TikTok is among the most pernicious forms of propaganda ever invented—perhaps the most—because it’s often subliminal and well-hidden as a “lifestyle” choice that few notice or even wish to.

Via its proprietorial algorithms, TikTok does this by encouraging and magnifying the most self-destructive trends in our culture. The platform has plenty of inadvertent allies in this mission among our young, many of them being so-called influencers.

In this way, TikTok is radically increasing the spread of all aspects of what we call “woke,” from transgenderism and hyper-sexuality to a pervasive sense of victimhood and depression unseen in our society probably ever.

Drug use and suicide, often closely associated, are way up. There’s a general feeling of hopelessness in our culture, particularly among the young.

If you wanted to destroy a country without firing a bullet, what better way could there be than to get them addicted to an app with those inherent values?

With that in mind, I believe that China is working from an established communist intelligence playbook to undermine us.

If you’re interested in the workings of that playbook—and you should be, out of self-defense—I would suggest reading the enlightening “Disinformation,” written by the late Ion Pacepa, the onetime Romanian spy chief and highest-ranking official of the former Soviet Union to defect.

Because it was less expensive and risky while being ultimately more effective, Pacepa explained, with many examples, disinformation was generally the preferred method over actual spying for the KGB.

Of course, they did both, as does Chinese intelligence obviously, but ask yourself this:

What’s a more effective form of disinformation, not to mention distraction, than TikTok promulgating woke ideology?

It has the capacity to destroy a generation, driving our citizens apart as it continually escalates its demands.

What was woke yesterday is no longer woke today.

Social acceptance, again particularly among the young, comes only to those who meet these constantly changing demands.

Our youth spend huge portions of their days that could be used more profitably in myriad ways—from playing sports and socializing in person to actually studying—chasing this woke rabbit.

TikTok is their home for that—a literal temple of woke.

I use the word temple deliberately because as religion fades from the consciousness, almost to the point of disappearance, the social media company replaces it almost as an object of worship, thus increasing its domination of the mind and diminishing its capacity for intelligent thought. It’s a form of hypnosis.

Just the other day, Forbes published news of a new study showing that the American IQ is declining precipitously, another result that has to be partly ascribed—along with our horrendous, woke-infested educational system that can’t manage to teach children how to read—to the rise of social media, most notably TikTok.

Turn it off before it’s too late.

It already may be.

While our youth were buried in the social media company, trying to figure out the answer to such “crucial” questions as what pronouns the good BIPOC should be using today, China, Russia, Syria, and even astonishingly, long-divided and hostile Sunni/Shiite Saudi Arabia and Iran have forged an alliance under the guidance of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

This is an extraordinary realignment of global politics that will affect our lives, weakening our nation and the West, for generations to come, if it holds.

How many TikTok users do you think even know this has happened? Is it more than 3 percent?

They should be paying attention. Given the IQ decline, learning Chinese likely isn’t going to be easy.

—Roger L. Simon is an award-winning novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, co-founder of PJMedia, and now, editor-at-large for The Epoch Times. His most recent books are “The GOAT” (fiction) and “I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn’t Already” (nonfiction).

Briefs are posted every weekday morning, M-F

NEWS

If elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz says she would consider recusing herself from cases involving Wisconsin’s law known as Act 10 that limited collective bargaining abilities for most public employees because of her participation in protests against the measure.

Protasiewicz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board last week her opposition to the law, including participating in protests in 2011 and signing a recall petition of then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker, might result in a recusal if she is elected the court.

“I’d have to think about it,” Protasiewicz said. “Given the fact that I marched, given the fact that I signed the recall petition, would I recuse myself? Maybe. Maybe. But I don’t know for sure.”

Protasiewicz also said she believes the law is unconstitutional and agreed with a dissenting opinion written in 2014 by liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a decision that upheld Walker’s signature legislation.

Bradley wrote in the dissent that the majority opinion diluted public workers’ constitutional right to freedom of association.

“The majority has opened the door for the state to withhold benefits and punish individuals based on their membership in disfavored groups,” Bradley wrote.

“I agree with the dissent in that case,” Protasiewicz said in an extensive interview with the Journal Sentinel editorial board on March 20.

The 2014 decision upholding Act 10 was 5-2, with former conservative Justice Michael Gableman writing the lead opinion, which found that collective bargaining over a contract with an employer is not a fundamental right for public employees under the constitution. Instead, it’s a benefit that lawmakers can extend or restrict as they see fit, he said.

Conservatives say they believe a legal challenge to Act 10 could make its way to the Supreme Court if Protasiewicz is elected and liberal justices take a 4-3 majority on the court. Protasiewicz faces conservative Dan Kelly, a former state Supreme Court Justice, in the April 4 election.

Kelly wrote a September 2012 blog post saying that Act 10 had saved the state from budgetary woes. He dismissed the merits of one of the legal challenges to the law, writing that “there was no rational relationship between the law and the reasons given for deeming it unconstitutional.”

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Republican state Senate candidate Dan Knodl says if his election gives Senate Republicans a two-thirds majority, he would “certainly consider” support launching impeachment proceedings against Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz.

Wisconsin Republicans are defending a two-thirds majority in the state Senate that they achieved in November but quickly lost after the retirement of longtime GOP state Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills. If Knodl replaces Darling, Senate Republicans will have enough members to be able to remove state officials who are impeached by the state Assembly.

The Wisconsin Constitution allows lawmakers to remove state officials “for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors,” but Knodl said Sunday he would consider launching impeachment proceedings for criminal justice officials “who have failed” at their jobs.

Knodl, of Germantown, faces Democratic environmental lawyer Jodi Habush Sinykin of Whitefish Bay in the April 4 special election to replace Darling. The district represents areas of the north and northwest suburbs of Milwaukee.

In an appearance on WISN-TV’s political talk show “UpFront,” Knodl said the “Milwaukee County justice system is failing” and said he believes its prosecutors and circuit court judges “need to be looked at” including Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm and Protasiewicz.

“She has failed,” Knodl said. When asked directly if he would support impeaching Protasiewicz, Knodl said “I certainly would consider it.”

Knodl did not immediately say whether his comments meant he would consider voting in favor of impeaching Protasiewicz if she is elected to the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.

“It simply gives us some more authority in the areas of oversight and accountability of elected officials or appointed officials,” Knodl told WISN-TV. “If there are some out there who are corrupt, who are failing at their tasks, we have an opportunity to hold them accountable.”

“I feel the Milwaukee County justice system is failing and that includes prosecution, so DA Chisholm I think should be looked at,” he said. “The circuit court judges I think have failed the community by releasing or not having high enough bail on these criminals, the perpetrators. And so, they need be looked at — Janet Protasiewicz is a circuit court judge right now in Milwaukee and she has failed.”

Sam Roecker, spokesman for Protasiewicz, did not directly respond to Knodl’s comments.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Gov. Tony Evers has directed that flags to be flown at half-staff in the state Tuesday to honor a Wisconsin soldier who died in World War II and whose remains were recently identified.

Evers’ order directs that U.S. flags and Wisconsin state flags be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset Tuesday to honor U.S. Army Private First Class William LaVerne “Sonny” Simon.

Simon’s remains will be buried Tuesday with full military honors in his hometown of Middleton, Wisconsin, nearly 80 years after he died in Germany.

“A decorated military veteran, Private Simon served our state and country well, giving his life in defense of the values and freedoms we hold most dear,” Evers said Monday in a statement.

Simon was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 109th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division, when he was reported unaccounted for on Nov. 5, 1944, during the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest in Germany.

—Wisconsin AP

The horrible task of counting began before noon.

How many children and staff members had gone into Covenant School (in Nashville) on Monday morning, and how many had come out alive after the gunshots?

Frantic administrators and teachers, tearful parents and first responders hurried to get that count finished. Parents were routed to nearby Woodmont Baptist Church waiting, hopefully, to be reunited with their children.

And they waited.

In fear. In shock. In anger. They waited for more understanding in a situation where none would be forthcoming.

The morning was filled with the sound of sirens.

The news they heard just after noon was devastating: Three children and three school staff members were killed. Police said they were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, and staff members Katherine Koonce, 60, the head of school, and Cynthia Peak, 61 and Mike Hill, 61.

Police identified the shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who police killed at the scene. Hale was a former student at The Covenant School, according to police.

Police identified the shooter by his name at birth and did not provide another name. He was a transgender man who used male pronouns. The police initially identified him as a woman.

Hale was an illustrator and graphic designer who had two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, police said.

The shooter entered the school just after 10 a.m. through a side door, began shooting on the first floor and then moved to the second. The first call to police came at 10:13 a.m. Five police officers confronted Hale on the second floor, and two opened fire, killing the shooter at 10:27 a.m.

Police found the suspected shooter’s car at the scene.

—The Nashville Tennessean

The Biden White House will probably push the usual talking points about banning so-called assault weapons, which will be echoed by their allies on the gun control issue. Unlike the shootings at Michigan State University and East High School in Denver, Colorado, this perpetrator had a handgun and two AR-15-style rifles. You can already hear the anti-gun Left licking their lips—now they had a chance to score some points. Except they can’t, Audrey Hale was identified as the shooter, and this person was transgender. Hale was shot and killed by police during the assault.

There is a manifesto and maps of potential targets. This shooter planned this attack, and given the setting; a hate crime cannot be ruled out. The lingering question will remain unresolved since a transgender mass shooter is one story the media will avoid like the plague. Authorities said they have a working theory on a motive but are unwilling to disclose it at this time.

The shooters at MSU and East High School were black. This one was transgender. The shelf life of this heinous school shooting isn’t going to last past the week for reasons you already know: the past string of mass shootings does not fit the liberal media narrative. When the weapon of choice isn’t an AR-15 rifle, the clock to expiration starts ticking. When members of a community the media loathes to expound upon when they’re the prime suspects in crimes, especially violent ones, the timeline to move on to the next subject is accelerated immensely.

As I’m writing this, CNN’s Erin Burnett is already moved on how Ukrainians are running out of weapons again, so that’s a gauge of how other networks might respond to this shooting.

—Matt Vespa, Townhall

A staffer for Sen. Rand Paul was stabbed and seriously injured in Washington, D.C., on Saturday and a suspect has since been arrested, according to police and Paul’s office.

“This past weekend a member of my staff was brutally attacked in broad daylight in Washington, D.C.,” Paul, R-Ky,. said in a statement to ABC News on Monday. “I ask you to join [wife] Kelley and me in praying for a speedy and complete recovery, and thanking the first responders, hospital staff, and police for their diligent actions.”

Paul’s office has not publicly identified the staffer.

According to a police report obtained by ABC News, officers first responded Saturday around 5:15 p.m. to a call about a stabbing on the 1300 block of H Street Northeast in the district.

The victim was treated on the scene for “stab wounds” and was seen by a witness “bleeding from the head,” the report states.

According to one of two witnesses cited in the report, the suspect had “popped out of the corner” and stabbed the Paul staffer multiple times as he and the witness were walking. The victim “was able to grab [the suspect’s] arms” and the witness with him tackled the suspect, “leading to a struggle between the parties,” the report states. Then, the victim and the witness ran as the suspect fled.

The first witness shouted to another about what was happening and that person called the authorities while they aided the victim, according to the report.

On Monday, D.C. police said that 42-year-old Glynn Neal, a D.C. resident, was arrested later on Saturday and had been charged with assault with intent to kill, wielding a knife, in connection with the attack. Court filings state that he has told officers he heard a voice was going to get him before the attack occurred.

Paul’s staffer was hospitalized “for treatment of life-threatening injuries,” police said, but further information about his condition was not available.

—ABC News

Former President Donald Trump claims that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has “dropped” an investigation into him over the “hush money” payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump, 76, made the assertion while speaking to reporters on his jet after a campaign rally in Waco, Texas, Axios reported.

“I think they’ve already dropped the case,” Trump said. “It’s a fake case. Some fake cases, they have absolutely nothing.”

Trump didn’t say what led him to believe he was off the hook.

A spokesperson for Bragg, a Democrat, declined to comment Sunday on Trump’s remarks but pointed to an unrelated Saturday statement that referred to the Daniels hush money probe as “an ongoing matter.”

—NY Post

For many Americans, grabbing a latte or a hot tea from a coffee shop is as habitual as brushing their teeth. You know the routine: Leave the house at 8:00 a.m., pick up your Starbucks drink at 8:15, and get to work by 8:30.

Coffee and tea help us get through the Monday–Friday grind.

But according to recent research, when we drink hot coffee or tea from disposable paper cups, we’re ingesting thousands of health-damaging microplastics.

Though one might not think a paper cup would contain plastic, almost all paper dishware utilizes microplastics as a sealant.

Two separate studies showed that when hot liquid is poured into paper cups, microplastics leach from the coating into the hot liquid, thereby turning a cup of coffee or tea into a microplastic elixir.

In one study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, researchers discovered that consuming hot liquid from a standard 12-ounce paper cup results in the ingestion of roughly 88,000 microplastic particles, if not more.

After a year of drinking just one cup of coffee or tea from a paper cup daily, the total amount of microplastic particles consumed would be over 32 million.

When heated to between 185 and 194 degrees Fahrenheit, paper cups were shown to release thousands of microplastics into the liquid. For reference, most lattes are served at around 160 degrees while brewed coffee is served at 190 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Researchers in another study also discovered that paper cups “do not appear to release fewer microplastic particles than plastic cups.”

As they concluded in the study published in Science of the Total Environment, “microplastic debris released from the cups as a type of exposure source to humans should be cause for grave concern.”

The impact of microplastics on the health of ocean ecosystems has rightfully seen widespread media coverage. Biodegradable straws and saving sea turtles have become a widespread environmental cliché. What is untold, however, is the immediate threat microplastics pose to human health, particularly hormone and reproductive health.

From the air we breathe to the water we drink, it has become an impossible feat to avoid microplastics altogether. Even so, we can reduce our microplastic exposure by thousands—if not millions—of particles if we choose to forgo paper cups.

Instead of drinking your favorite tea or coffee from a disposable cup, consider using a stainless steel thermos or a ceramic mug. This simple switch might be the catalyst that restores your health and fertility.

—The Epoch Times

OPINION

The Wall Street Journal has conducted a poll with the most interesting results. From 1998 to the present, the percentage of Americans who say that patriotism is an important value has crashed from 70 percent to 38 percent. The bulk of the fall has happened since 2019.

Indeed, there is a growing cultural movement, extending from academia to the mainstream, that encourages loathing of American history and its achievements. No “founding father” is safe from being called the worst-possible names. Hatred of this country has risen to be an expected norm. But the problem goes deeper even.

When you are locked in your home, your business is closed, your church is shut, your neighbors are screaming at you to mask up, then the doctors come at you with shots you don’t want, and you are further prevented from leaving the country to anywhere but Mexico, and the president calls the unvaccinated enemies of the people, sure, one can imagine that affections for the homeland decline.

But there is another important pillar of patriotism. It is about trust in the civic institutions of the country. These include schools, courts, politics, and all the institutions of government at all levels. Civic trust in these are surely at rock bottom. The courts did not protect us. The schools shut, particularly the public ones which are supposed to be the crowning achievement of Progressive ideology. Our doctors turned on us.

The media too turned on regular people for three years, calling our parties super-spreader events, jeering pastors who held worship services, demonizing live concerts, and screaming at everyone to stay home and stay glued to the tube.

Patriotism was supposed to mean staying home and staying safe, masking up, social distancing, complying with every random edict no matter how ridiculous, and finally getting jabbed once, twice, three times, and more forever, despite the lack of medical vulnerability for vast swaths of the public.

We should in no way be surprised that the public these days is not feeling very patriotic. And yes, this is very sad in many ways. But it is also what happens when patriotism is hijacked by the state and industry to shatter our hopes and dreams. We tend to learn from our errors. So when the pollsters come around and ask if we are feeling patriotic, it’s hardly unusual that people would respond: not really.

And we could say the same about the other poll result: the importance of religion has fallen from 62 percent in 1998 to 39 percent in 2022. Again the bulk of the crash happened after 2019. No question that the nation was already trending secular. But what are we to think when two successive seasons of Easter and Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) were canceled by the civic elites with full cooperation from the mainstream of religious leaders?

In the final results of the poll, the importance of having children went from 59 percent to 39 percent and the importance of community involvement peaked at 62 at the height of lockdowns to fall to an astounding 27 percent.

Again, the culprit here seems pretty obvious: it was the pandemic response. All the policies were structured to shatter human relationships. People are nothing but disease vectors. Stay away from everyone. Don’t become a super-spreader by daring to hang around others. Be alone. Be lonely. That’s the only proper way.

Finally, among the only things that are rising concern the importance of money. That’s probably because real income has been declining for the better part of two years and inflation is gutting our standards of living. Once again, pandemic policies are the culprit. They spent trillions and the money printers matched that spending nearly dollar for dollar, watering down the value of a previously reliable currency.

—Jeffrey A. Tucker is Founder and President of the Brownstone Institute

I could fill pages on each of these items, but I’m not going to dwell on them. I do, however, believe they are worth bringing to your attention so you can make sure your friends and family members are also informed.

• USA Today labeled a man as one of its “Women of the Year.” So much for accuracy in reporting. The left continues its war on normalcy by embracing insanity and is erasing women in the process.

• The left-wing media aren’t simply misleading us with biased reporting. They’re actually celebrating their lies and deceit.

• California’s $640 billion reparations plan is twice the state’s annual budget. Imagine the taxes that would have to be imposed to cover that fiscal insanity! Not to be outdone, San Francisco’s reparations scheme costs 12.5 times the city’s annual budget, amounting to a tax of $600,000 on every non-African American household in the city!

• Leftist universities continue to embrace segregation. Grand Valley State University in Michigan is hosting at least five different graduation ceremonies segregated by race and “gender identity.” How does dividing us bring us together? Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., must be rolling over in his grave.

• Washington, D.C., may cut its bus service in half in order to save money so it can buy expensive electric buses that will run fewer routes, moving fewer people. How’s that for liberal logic?!

—Gary Bauer

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – In 1944, a Swedish housewife in her mid-30s, Astrid Lindgren, sprained her ankle so badly that she was confined to bed and finally put pen to paper transcribing the bedtime stories she’d been telling her 10-year-old daughter Karin for years.

Pippi Longstocking, the red-haired, freckled character, became a “new role model for female assertiveness” and the chapter books were translated into 76 languages from Arabic to Zulu.

Pippi was named by Lindgren’s daughter, who asked her mother for a get-well story when she was off school. Unconventional with superhuman strength—able to lift her horse one-handed—she is playful and unpredictable. She often makes fun of unreasonable adults, especially if they are pompous and condescending. Her anger comes out in extreme cases, such as when a man ill-treats his horse. The daughter of a buccaneer captain—with adventure stories to prove it—Pippi, like Peter Pan, has no interest in growing up.

Briefs are posted every weekday morning, M-F

NEWS

With the future of abortion rights and redistricting hanging in the balance, all eyes are on the April election for Wisconsin Supreme Court. But for people who find themselves in front of a judge, two questions on the ballot could have more substantial consequences than who controls the state’s highest panel.

A proposed constitutional amendment will let voters choose whether it should be harder to get out of jail on bail. Early voters have reported confusion over what the proposal would do and how the questions are worded.

The first question asks voters if they think judges should be able to set conditions to protect the public from serious harm when releasing people before trial. The second asks whether judges should be allowed to consider past convictions for violent crimes when setting bail for someone accused of a violent crime.

The questions may seem vague and unimportant, but they would let judges set higher cash bail amounts that could disproportionately keep poor defendants behind bars, said Alison Shames, director of the Center for Effective Public Policy. The measure’s Republican sponsors say higher bail amounts would protect the public.

“It traps people with little money in jail when the judge may in fact not even intend for that person to be staying in jail,” Shames said.

Bail is meant to ensure a defendant returns to court and isn’t supposed to be a punishment, since the defendant hasn’t yet been convicted. Research shows that people who stay in jail before trial because they cannot afford their bail are more likely to be unemployed and reoffend in the years after their case ends.

“Even just a few days of jail can disrupt someone’s life, can cause them to lose jobs or housing or contact with their family — essentially all of the stabilizing factors that help someone keep out of trouble with the law,” said Matt Alsdorf, who works alongside Shames to study bail policies.

Many details of the Republican-backed plan to overhaul bail in Wisconsin were laid out in a separate bill passed last week by the Republican-controlled Legislature. Opponents raised concerns about how that bill defines the two key terms referenced in the ballot questions: serious harm and violent crime.

Under the bill, which can only go into effect if the amendment passes, judges would have broad discretion to set stricter release conditions for any defendant they believe could physically or emotionally hurt someone or inflict damages of more than $2,500 while on release.

The bill also names more than 100 offenses as violent crimes. Opponents say the list is too broad and contains offenses that should not make it harder to get out on bail, such as watching a cockfight or leaving a firearm where a child gains access to it.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers could still veto the bill, but he cannot veto a constitutional amendment. If Evers vetoes the bill and voters ratify the amendment, judges would have to decide what violent crime and serious harm mean. The governor’s office has not responded to messages asking about his plans for the bill.

In the case that voters approve only one of the two questions, only that part of the amendment and clarifying bill would go into effect.

Republican Rep. Cindi Duchow and Sen. Van Wanggaard, who sponsored the bail measures, say the legislation will keep communities safe by making it easier for judges to hold people they deem dangerous on high bail amounts.

The stricter bail policies gained traction in Wisconsin after Darrell Brooks drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee in 2021, killing six people and injuring more than 60 while out on $1,000 bail for a prior charge of domestic violence. Brooks’ bail for the parade killings was set at $5 million.

Police organizations and conservative funding groups have voiced support for the bail amendment. Meanwhile organizers such as Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing, or EXPO, the ACLU, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and Milwaukee-based Black Leaders Organizing Communities, or BLOC, oppose it.

—Wisconsin AP

A Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton collaboration was deemed too controversial to be performed by students at a Wisconsin elementary school – a move that was blasted by some in the school community.

Originally, first grade students were set to perform “Rainbowland” which is a duet between the pop star and country legend that praises acceptance, before administrators for the Waukesha school district vetoed the selection ahead of the spring concert, according to reports.

“I was very confused,” parent Sarah Schindler, whose daughter goes to the Heyer Elementary School, told CBS 58, adding her daughter informed her the song was no longer in play.

Superintendent Jim Sebert said the school received two inquiries about the 2017 song from parents.

After which, Heyer Principal Mark Schneider and another school administrator erred against allowing it at the concert, according to the television station.

“It was determined that Rainbowland could be perceived as controversial,” Sebert reportedly said in a statement, referencing school board decision. “The main question was is the song appropriate for the age level and maturity of the students.”

Among the parents and teachers irked by the decision was Melissa Tempel, a first grade teacher at the school, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“My first graders were so excited to sing Rainbowland for our spring concert but it has been vetoed by our administration,” she said in a tweet last week. “When will it end?”

Some of the song lyrics from Cyrus and Parton include “Wouldn’t it be nice to live in paradise / Where we’re free to be exactly who we are” and “Brush the judgment and fear aside / Make wrong things right / And end the fight / ‘Cause I promise ain’t nobody gonna win.”

Schindler told the LA Times the school board had a “conservative flip” in recent years that led to policy changes and caused controversy in the school community.

“I know, Miley Cyrus kind of has a past, in the spotlight with, you know, talking about drug use, and sexuality, and all of that,” she told the newspaper. “And Dolly Parton supports drag queens, and you know, that’s another thing going about in our country these days.”

—NY Post

In a long speech full of by-now-familiar grievances, insults, self-defense, self-promotion, and exaggeration, former President Donald J. Trump told a crowd in Waco, Texas on Saturday that he will win the 2024 election.

“When this election is over, I will be the president of the United States,” he said to applause.

And if he doesn’t win, he later added, “I believe our country is doomed.”

Trump slammed his many critics, but thanked the current Republican-led House, singling out two lawmakers, Reps. Jim Jordan and James Comer, by name, calling them “great people” for the investigations they are leading.

—CNS News

A recent survey of taxpayers shows a large number of Americans anticipated a tax refund that is either the same size or larger than last year’s.

The survey, released by tax-preparing software firm TaxAct this month, showed that only about 30 percent of Americans anticipated “receiving less of a refund on their 2022 returns” despite recent warnings from the Internal Revenue Service and other tax experts. Another 24 percent said in the survey that they “don’t know what to expect.”

The smaller refunds come as many Americans are saving less and are increasingly expressing worry about decades-high inflation, according to a TaxAct release. Tax experts have said that federal government pandemic programs as well as tax credits have ended for many.

“Refunds are predicted to go down 11 percent from last year,” Curtis Campbell, president and CEO of TaxAct, stated in a press release. “And it’s important for people to be prepared to receive less or even owe money this tax season.”

Citing recent changes to the tax code, he noted that “we can expect to see lower tax refunds across the board this season being there was no stimulus relief this past year and other tax advantages, like the Child Tax Credit, reverted back to their lesser 2019 values.”

“There is a lot of economic uncertainty right now, and for the majority of customers we serve, their tax refund is their biggest paycheck of the year,” Campbell added. “U.S. citizens are saving less money, and therefore, relying on their refunds to help make ends meet.”

Data released by the IRS earlier this month show that tax refunds are 11 percent smaller, on average, than the same time a year ago. Still, the IRS has sent out more tax refunds this year than last year, while a greater number of processed returns triggered a refund so far with less than a month to go before the April 18 tax-filing deadline.

The average tax refund amounted to $3,028 as of Mar. 3, down from $3,401 during the same time period in 2022. So far, the IRS has sent out 42 million refunds this year, compared with some 38 million that were sent during the same time period last year.

—The Epoch Times

Republican Gov. Brad Little signed a bill allowing execution by firing squad, making Idaho the latest state to turn to older methods of capital punishment amid a nationwide shortage of lethal-injection drugs.

The Legislature passed the measure March 20 with a veto-proof majority. Under it, firing squads will be used only if the state cannot obtain the drugs needed for lethal injections.

Pharmaceutical companies increasingly have barred executioners from using their drugs, saying they were meant to save lives. One Idaho death row inmate has already had his execution postponed repeatedly because of drug scarcity.

The shortage has prompted other states in recent years to revive older methods of execution. Only Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina have laws allowing firing squads if other execution methods are unavailable, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. South Carolina’s law is on hold pending the outcome of a legal challenge.

“While I am signing this bill, it is important to point out that fulfilling justice can and must be done by minimizing stress on corrections personnel,” Little wrote in a transmittal letter after signing the bill, the Idaho Statesman reported. “For the people on death row, a jury convicted them of their crimes, and they were lawfully sentenced to death. It is the responsibility of the state of Idaho to follow the law and ensure that lawful criminal sentences are carried out.”

—NBC News

The Florence museum housing Michelangelo’s Renaissance masterpiece the David on Sunday invited parents and students from a Florida charter school to visit after complaints about a lesson featuring the statue forced the principal to resign.

Florence Mayor Dario Nardella also tweeted an invitation for the principal to visit so he can personally honor her. Confusing art with pornography was “ridiculous,” Nardella said.

The board of the Tallahassee Classical School pressured Principal Hope Carrasquilla to resign last week after an image of the David was show to a sixth-grade art class. The school has a policy requiring parents to be notified in advance about “controversial” topics being taught.

The incredulous Italian response highlighted how the U.S. culture wars are often perceived in Europe, where despite a rise in right-wing sentiment and governance, the Renaissance and its masterpieces, even its naked ones, are generally free of controversy. Sunday’s front page of the Italian daily publication Corriere della Sera featured a cartoon by its leading satirist depicting David with his genitals covered by an image of Uncle Sam and the word “Shame.”

Carrasquilla believes the board targeted her after three parents complained about a lesson including a photo of the David, a 5-meter tall (17 foot) nude marble sculpture dating from 1504. The work, reflecting the height of the Italian Renaissance, depicts the Biblical David going to fight Goliath armed only with his faith in God.

Carrasquilla has said two parents complained because they weren’t notified in advance that a nude would be shown, while a third called the iconic statue pornographic.

Carrasquilla said in a phone interview Sunday that she is “very honored” by the invitations to Italy and she may accept.

“I am totally, like, wow,” Carasquilla said. “I’ve been to Florence before and have seen the David up close and in person, but I would love to go and be a guest of the mayor.”

Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, where the David resides, expressed astonishment at the controversy.

“To think that David could be pornographic means truly not understanding the contents of the Bible, not understanding Western culture and not understanding Renaissance art,” Hollberg said in a telephone interview.

Michelangelo Buonarroti sculpted the David between 1501-1504 after being commissioned by the Cathedral of Florence. The statue is the showpiece of the Accademia, and helps draw 1.7 million visitors each year to the museum.

—Associated Press

Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls rebuked Rep. Jamaal Bowman for being flippant about the dangers TikTok poses to youth mental health after the New York Democrat attributed Republican support for a ban on the popular, Chinese-owned video sharing platform to a lack of “swag.”

Currently, many Republicans in Congress and a growing number of Democrats are in favor of a nationwide ban on TikTok, for reasons ranging from national security and user data privacy to the targeting of the young with harmful content.

During a protest outside the Capitol Wednesday, Bowman, a progressive Democrat opposed to the ban, impugned the motives of ban advocates in the familiar terms of identity politics, urging Congress to “not be racist towards China and express our xenophobia when it comes to TikTok.”

Bowman also took another, somewhat head-scratching, swipe at his opponents.

“Republicans ain’t got no swag, that’s why they want a ban,” he declared.

Asked for a response, Nehls ripped Bowman for trivializing a serious issue.

“Give me a break,” Nehls retorted. “What are we teenagers? What is this high school? … Is this a popularity contest? Am I running for class president? This is serious stuff.

Nehls continued, alluding to a mother who sued TikTok last year, alleging her daughter died from imitating a dangerous stunt that the app’s demographic targeting algorithm curated for her. “How would Bowman feel if we get the mother of the 10-year-old that committed suicide?” Nehls asked. “You think he’s going to look her in the eyeballs like I’m looking at you and say, ‘I want to talk to you a little bit about swag’? Give me a break. This is serious business.”

Nehls is in favor of banning TikTok, in part, because it is owned by ByteDance, the Chinese company which has access to personal data related to the platform’s millions of users.

“We have to act responsibly,” Nehls said. “We have to put the American people first and their children. We must do it today. I don’t see the fight here. I don’t see the arguments. I don’t see the argument other than the guy in the White House. He’s owned by China.”

—Just the News

A Mississippi meteorologist, shocked by radar images of a tornado belt headed for a small town in his viewing area, broke down on Friday and prayed live on-air.

WTVA‘s Matt Laubhan was overcome as he watched his radar screen while delivering the weather. He saw that the tornado was heading directly toward the town of Amory shortly before 11 PM on Friday.

“Here’s the thing about this, y’all trust me too much,” he said on the newscast. “I tell you where it’s going to go and some of you guys are like, ‘That’s where it’s gonna go.’ The reality of this, this could be changing direction. So, Amory, we need to be in our safe place.”

Laubhan kept his gaze fixated on his radar screen during his segment, at one point leaning down on his table.

“Oh man, North side of Amory, this is coming in,” he said. “Oh, man. Dear Jesus, please help them. Amen.”

The tornado has so far claimed 23 people in Mississippi, with several in Monroe County, where Amory is located.

—The website Deadline

Keep an eye to the sky this week for a chance to see a planetary hangout.

Five planets — Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus and Mars — will line up near the moon.

Where and when can you see them?

The best day to catch the whole group is Tuesday. You’ll want to look to the western horizon right after sunset, said NASA astronomer Bill Cooke.

The planets will stretch from the horizon line to around halfway up the night sky. But don’t be late: Mercury and Jupiter will quickly dip below the horizon around half an hour after sunset.

The five-planet spread can be seen from anywhere on Earth, as long as you have clear skies and a view of the west.

“That’s the beauty of these planetary alignments. It doesn’t take much,” Cooke said.

—The Associated Press

Whether you wear shoes in your home usually comes down to personal preference. Kicking off your sneakers at the end of the day can be a creature comfort that also extends the life of your carpeting and makes mopping your hardwood floors an easier chore. But cozy vibes and aesthetics aside, should you leave your shoes at the door for the sake of your health? Spoiler: If you want to keep feces, bacteria, lead, pesticides, and other potentially harmful other chemicals from entering your home, it’s probably a good idea.

Jill Litt, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, recommends people take their shoes off before entering their homes in order to reduce tracking in dirt and feces (yup, from dog poop) that your shoes inevitably pick up when you’re out and about. But how germy, really, are our shoes? A University of Arizona-led study in 2008 set out to quantify just that by swabbing new shoes worn by 10 participants over the course of two weeks. On average, 421,000 units of bacteria clung to the outside of the shoes. E. coli, which is known to cause intestinal and urinary tract infections and other health problems, was prevalent in the samples. (The small study wasn’t published in a peer-reviewed journal; it was supported by a shoe company testing out machine-washable shoes.)

One thing parents should keep in mind: Hand-to-mouth contact is one of the primary ways children get exposed to toxic substances and infectious disease agents, Litt points out. In urban areas with high levels of lead-based paint (older homes built before 1978), researchers have found high levels of lead in dust in the home and one of the main sources is dust tracked in from outside. Research has also shown you can even bring in pesticide residue from gardens via shoes, Litt says.

“The factors that influence how these particles and dirt move through the indoor environment include climate, design of the entrance, and whether there are exterior mats and interior mats,” she says. (Shoe and boot scrapers can help keep germy intruders out, too.)

The highest concentration of debris is in the interior entryway, and levels go down as you move from this area, Litt explains. Carpeting, though, retains a lot of dust, she points out, and unfortunately vacuuming is very good at dispersing those particles rather than just removing them.

If you’ve got some dirt spots or pesky white stains from salt and de-icing chemicals that are extra stubborn to remove from your flooring, try some at-home cleaning solutions, suggests Alicia Sokolowski, the president and co-CEO of AspenClean. Here are a couple solutions Sokolowski recommends trying.

• Vinegar and water: Mix equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Spray the solution on the mud or dirt stain and let it sit for a few minutes. Use a clean microfiber cloth or sponge to scrub the stain gently, starting from the outside and working your way inward. Rinse with clean water and blot the area dry with a clean towel or cloth.

• Baking soda and water: Mix baking soda and water to form a paste. Apply the paste to the stain and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Use a stiff-bristled brush to scrub the stain gently, and then rinse with clean water. Blot the area dry with a clean towel or microfiber cloth.

—MSN

OPINION

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden welcomed immigrants from around the world to enter the United States. In a 2019 Democratic Party presidential debate, Biden said, “You want to flee, and you’re fleeing oppression, you should come.”

This message was heard by migrants worldwide as illegal immigrants from 160 nations have been encountered at the southern border. It is especially concerning that the number of Chinese nationals who have been apprehended at the border has increased 900% since last year. According to author and analyst Gordon Chang, “We have to assume that the Chinese regime is taking advantage of the situation by smuggling in their agents.”

This development should worry every American as communist China is our foremost enemy. There is also a high probability that Chinese spies and terrorists are among the 1.2 million illegal migrants who “got away” and escaped from U.S. border agents during the Biden presidency.

Overall, there have been approximately 189,000 border encounters per month during the Biden presidency, a 370% increase since the Trump administration. During the last two years, illegal crossings were one million higher than during the entire four years of the Trump presidency. In just 2022, there were more than 2 million illegal border crossings.

Obviously, this is a massive problem that should have the full attention of the Biden administration. We do not have enough resources deployed at the border. At a minimum, we need to finish the border wall, boost the number of border patrol agents and swiftly deport illegal aliens who enter our country.

With an open border, fentanyl and other illegal drugs are pouring into the United States. Fentanyl overdose was the primary cause of 70,601 deaths in our country in 2021. This was approximately 65% of the 106,699 drug overdose deaths which were recorded that year, an all-time record.

With drug overdose deaths and illegal immigration at the highest levels in American history, this country is facing a severe crisis. Unfortunately, the Biden administration has totally failed to provide adequate border security.

What are the American people concerned about? According to a recent Gallup poll, the top four priorities are poor leadership, illegal immigration, the weak economy, and the escalating inflation rate. The issue of the “environment” came in last among respondents at 3%.

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Minority Leader, stated the war in Ukraine was the most important issue facing Republicans.

Not surprisingly, the American people do not share this ridiculous belief. The Gallup poll indicated that the war in Ukraine was not even mentioned by 1% of respondents as our top problem.

—Talk show host Jeff Crouere is political columnist

One of the more comical moments early in the tenure of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was in 2019 when she triumphantly raised both fists over her head a la Rocky Balboa upon executing five push-ups. She later Tweeted, “Don’t judge me, I def fell off the workout wagon.”

This is lighthearted behavior but it illustrates how Leftists routinely implore people not to be judgmental. In truth, people make judgments all the time. Whether you’re deciding if you should run a yellow light or hit the brakes, deciding what clothes to buy, or whether to associate with someone or politely avoid them, we all make judgments. It’s how we survive.

Judgment can be tricky. If it is made absent inquiry, it’s usually unwise. That’s why most people ask questions before arriving at a conclusion. It’s what people do when trying to make judgments about politics or public policy. But some questions are deemed good while others not so much, particularly when they involve the most pressing issues of our time.

If you ask questions in pursuit of judgment on climate or COVID policy, you’re liable to be branded a denier. If you ask questions about sexuality, you’re a homophobe. If you ask about critical race theory, you’re a racist.

This is how the Left betrays the vapidity of its positions. On one hand, if you ask the questions necessary to arrive at a responsible judgment, Leftists hurl slander and threats. On the other hand, you’re castigated about how you shouldn’t be judgmental if the Left disagrees with you.

When we’re pilloried for asking questions and excoriated for wrongthink, the people scolding us for being judgmental leave us with one remaining option; to agree with them – or else. This is a time tested strategy of totalitarians; people who disagreed with Soviet Communism were systematically imprisoned in psychiatric gulags.

The Left does not want us to make judgments. They simply demand we buy whatever they’re selling, no questions asked.

The American Left hates it when we make judgments about their policies because they are bad policies. Most people don’t like them and they know this. Even our attempts to learn about these policies by asking fundamental questions is attacked. Rather, we’re told to sit down, shut up and obey.

We need to be more judgmental. Discerning judgment is indispensable to a well run civil society, and it is incumbent upon us to ask the questions necessary to judge policies and account for our judgments. In evaluating the ideology of the totalitarian Left, people quickly learn that it seeks to prohibit the discerning kind of judgment Christ taught us. That’s a leading indicator of the fruits of Leftism right there.

—Scott Hogenson is president of Hogenson Communications, a Dallas-Fort Worth public relations and crisis management practice.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – 111 years ago today, the first of 3,000 Japanese cherry blossom trees were planted in Washington, D.C. — a gift from the Mayor of Tokyo, Yukio Ozaki, and in 1935 marked the date of the inaugural Cherry Blossom Festival in the nation’s capital. Ozaki gave the trees to enhance the growing friendship between the United States and Japan and also celebrate the continued close relationship between the two nations.

Every Sunday I make it a point to listen to my old colleague from WUWM-FM Milwaukee Public Radio and dear friend Obie Yadgar.

He now does a weekly Sunday morning program on WMSE-FM in Milwaukee from 8-9 am with great classical music and with wonderful anecdotes shared whimsically by Obie. Today he referenced a 1989 Chicago Tribune article about a young woman named Sonia Sudak who used classical music to talk herself out of an encounter with a pair of thugs. His on-air anecdote followed the playing of a well-known Vivaldi composition, “Summer from the Four Seasons.”

I couldn’t locate the Tribune article but I did find this from the NY Times dated January 18, 1989, by Ron Alexander:

Sonia Sudak of Manhattan enjoyed an afternoon of ice skating at the Wollman Rink, then lingered over a hot chocolate with a friend. It was beginning to get dark as she headed home. She was near an exit at Central Park South, listening to a Vivaldi concerto on her headphone radio, when she became aware of two teen-age boys approaching her. ”Give me your radio, lady,” one of them demanded. Without really thinking about what she was saying, Ms. Sudak found herself replying: ”You wouldn’t want it. It plays only classical music.”

The boy who had spoken looked disgusted, grumbled ”aw . . .,” uttered a four-letter word and turned to walk off with his cohort.

When Ms. Sudak left the park a few minutes later, she was still listening to Vivaldi.