Month: May 2023

CNN — After 60 days of pushing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ priorities, a controversial slate of policies that have established Florida as the vanguard of the conservative movement’s latest fascinations, state lawmakers wrap up their annual legislative session on Friday. Then, the countdown to DeSantis’ presidential campaign begins. DeSantis has delayed an announcement about his political future while lawmakers worked, looking to rack up political victories before jumping into the fray. The GOP-controlled Legislature has largely given it to him, giving DeSantis a potential platform for his White House run while reshaping Florida’s schools and society in immeasurable ways. Abortion in…

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy talks Republican primary debates, challenging Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to a debate, the ongoing battle between Disney and DeSantis, government spending and education. Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed Thursday to protect Americans from “financial censorship” if elected president, arguing that financial firms that act out of “fear” of government pose a threat to freedom that transcends partisanship. “The ability to save and spend without political interference is a prerequisite for the exercise of meaningful dissent, and I will defend it accordingly,” Kennedy tweeted. “This is not a question of left or right….

On March 25, Brazil’s government launched a multifaceted campaign to fight “disinformation,” including a website dedicated to identifying and debunking “fake news.” The initiative, seen by many as a tool for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s administration to delegitimize the criticism it faces under the guise of “fact-checking,” raised serious concerns about the excess of government, freedom of expression and the future of Brazil’s fragile democracy. “There is no such thing as government fact-checking,” Christina Tardáliga, senior program director at the International Center for Journalists, he tweeted in response to the news of the initiative. “This appropriation of the…

When Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, the pro-life movement and its almost entirely Republican political allies could have redoubled their attention to creating the necessary circumstances to facilitate the “culture of life” for which Pope John Paul II asked in the 1990s. Republican politicians could have relied on Americans majority support for second-trimester abortion bans, while promoting and creating the type of benefits and family services that facilitate it modal woman seeking an abortion (late twenties, already a mother, some college credits, single and low income) to consider parenting rather than ending the life of her unborn child….

It’s been 52 years since Congress passed, and the country ratified, a constitutional amendment: the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18 in the wake of the Vietnam War and the broader disruption of the 1960s (the 27th amendment, ratified in 1992). , was approved in 1789). It’s been 64 years since Congress added new states to the union: Alaska and Hawaii, in 1959. And it’s been 94 years since Congress limited the size of the House of Representatives to 435 members. You might be tempted to treat these facts as trivia. But the truth is that they…

MILLER The father of a young man seen fighting on a Union Local school bus in a social media video made a brief appearance Thursday in Belmont County Western Division Court. David Miller, 50, of 42600 National Road Lot 65, Belmont, appeared briefly before Judge Eric Costine and pleaded not guilty to aggravated menacing for allegedly threatening the bus driver who was seen on video breaking the fight and holding back Miller’s son. The video shows the boy shouting abuse at the driver and apparently hitting him. Miller’s threats allegedly occurred after the child was dropped off. Costine said the…

Israel’s military said Saturday that three rockets were fired from Syria into Israeli territory, a rare attack by the country’s northeastern neighbor that comes after days of escalating violence on multiple fronts. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launches, which caused no damage or casualties. Only one rocket managed to cross Israeli territory and landed in a field in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the Israeli military said. Fragments of another destroyed missile fell on Jordanian territory near the border with Syria, the Jordanian army said. In Syria, an adviser to President Bashar Assad described the rocket…

Editor’s note: Rick Lance is executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. PRATTVILLE, Ala. (BP) – Breaking news is a commonly used headline for some current event that demands our attention. Many times breaking news breaks our hearts. This was the case for many, myself included, on Sunday morning, April 15th. I looked at my phone and saw a news alert with the story of a horrific event in Dadeville, Alabama: the sad story of a birthday shooting. party I immediately contacted Ben Hayes, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church Dadeville. I also contacted our disaster relief…