Pennsylvania Shooter’s Neighbors Portray Detached, Reclusive Family

Conversations by The Pennsylvania Daily Star with around two dozen neighbors near the house where Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, lived painted a picture of a family that mostly keeps to itself and a young man who had little interaction with the neighborhood.

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Commentary: The Simple Joys of Keeping a Cow

Cow

“Three acres and a cow” became a slogan for those who promoted small landholdings in 1880s England. It was thought to represent an ideal setup for the average family. As it happens, I’ve somehow ended up with exactly that: three acres and a cow—specifically, a Jersey-Fleckvie mix gifted to us by my wife’s dairy-farming family.

The cow is an emblem of an age-old form of true civilization, where men tame the wild without destroying it. The grassland is fenced off, given a shape, form, and purpose, and the animal lives quite a comfortable life, except perhaps for its last day, in which it, too, serves a higher purpose.

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Heir to George Soros’ Empire Engaged to Former Hillary Clinton Aide Huma Abedin

Alex Soros

Alexander Soros, son of George Soros and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, is engaged to veteran Democratic operative Huma Abedin, according to his Instagram account.

“This happened … we couldn’t be happier, more grateful or more in love,” Soros wrote on social media on Tuesday alongside a picture of him proposing to Abedin. Soros proposed to Abedin in New York City in late May, with the couple later absconding to Italy to celebrate and only making their engagement public more than a month later, Vogue reported.

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Commentary: Addressing the Root Cause of Our Veterans’ Suicide Epidemic

Veterans

On June 27th, I hosted a Special Order speech on the House floor to raise awareness of veteran Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I chose this date for a reason: June was National PTSD awareness month, and June 27th was National PTSD Awareness Day.

According to the National Center for PTSD, ten percent of all Veterans suffer from PTSD. PTSD is the leading cause of the Veteran suicide epidemic, claiming between 17 and 44 Veteran lives each and every DAY – a cumulative loss of nearly 150,000 Veteran lives since 9/11. This figure is 21 times greater than the 7,000 servicemembers we lost in post-9/11 warzones, making PTSD exponentially more lethal than combat.

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Commentary: Republicans Must Stop Retreating on Abortion

While President Joe Biden’s halting performance in the first 2024 presidential debate generated the most significant commentary, it was some of former President Donald Trump’s remarks that raised concerns for pro-life voters. Those remarks ended up foreshadowing the recently proposed Republican platform’s surrender on the abortion issue.

Trump’s first misstep was his contention that “everybody” wanted abortion regulated at the state level. “Fifty-one years ago you had Roe v. Wade,” Trump argued, “and everybody wanted to get it back to the states, everybody, without exception, Democrats, Republicans, liberals, conservatives. Everybody wanted it back… Ronald Reagan wanted it brought back” (emphasis added).

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Time to Take Down the Pride Flags and Put ‘In God We Trust’ on Every Federal Building, Sen. Josh Hawley Says

American recovery begins with religion, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Monday evening in a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in the nation’s capital.

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University ‘Decolonizes’ Art Collection Due to ‘Problematic’ Paintings and Sculptures

What does an institution of higher learning do when it has a “problematic” collection of paintings and sculptures?

Answer: It “decolonizes” them. In other words, it replaces “white settler” works with those by Indigenous/Native/First Americans.

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Corn Growers Join Petition to SCOTUS Over California Emissions Mandate

Corn Harvester

A coalition of energy, biofuel and agriculture groups – including the Illinois Corn Growers Association – are taking their challenge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions mandate to the nation’s highest court. 

The group filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the EPA’s decision to grant a waiver to California for its 2021-2025 electric vehicle mandate. Illinois lawmakers have considered adopting California’s strict EV policies.  

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Commentary: A July 4th Address for the Ages

John Quincy Adams

Two years before he formulated the ideas for the Monroe Doctrine, then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was asked to give the annual Independence Day address in the United States Capitol. It became what historian Samuel Flagg Bemis called a landmark document in the history of American foreign policy. Its message continues to resonate in modern debates about U.S. foreign policy.

Before getting into the details of Adams’ address, some background about Adams and 1821 (the year he delivered the speech) is necessary. John Quincy Adams was the son of John Adams, one of the driving forces behind America’s independence and the nation’s second president. Young John Quincy accompanied his father in diplomatic posts in France, and later served as private secretary to Francis Dana in Russia. Young Adams also had served as his father’s private secretary during the negotiations of the Treaty of Paris (1783) that ended the War of Independence. He was appointed by President George Washington as U.S. Minister Resident to the Netherlands in 1794. He served in that same position in Prussia during his father’s presidency. President Madison named John Quincy U.S. Minister to Russia in 1809, and he served in that position until 1814, as the Napoleonic Wars were coming to a close. He chaired the U.S. delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812 with Great Britain, and later served as U.S. Minister to Great Britain in the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo. President James Monroe appointed John Quincy as Secretary of State. In 1824, Adams won the disputed presidential election in the House of Representatives, where he bested military hero Andrew Jackson. (Jackson would later claim that Adams won the presidency in a “corrupt bargain” with Henry Clay, whom Adams appointed as Secretary of State).

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