Category: Culture

Commentary: Billionaires Funding Protests Donate Millions to House Dems

RealClearWire
George Soros

For President Biden and congressional Democrats, the fierce party division over the campus protests and the war in Gaza is full of warning signs during the 2024 election year. The unrest is unlikely to stop when universities break for the summer; protesters are pledging to disrupt the August Democratic National Convention planned to be held in Chicago. 

Most House Democrats have been reticent on the antisemitic protests and encampments roiling college graduations this month, while a handful have vocally defended or even celebrated the student protests as displays of protected free speech. 

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Commentary: The Hidden Benefits of Homeschool

South Carolina Sun Staff

These days, it’s almost common knowledge that homeschooled students have a better academic education, do better in college and careers, and are regarded as “smarter” than students from public schools. Homeschooling families typically gravitate toward this educational lifestyle to avoid the public school environment, to prioritize their faith and family values, to adjust to a more flexible and forgiving lifestyle, and to offer their children a better childhood than that found in public schools. Yes to all! These are wonderful reasons to choose homeschooling and should be widely shared and celebrated.

When my parents chose to homeschool me and my siblings, though, they had no idea how deep the effects would be. Academics is only one aspect of homeschooling. The family-centric, homeschool lifestyle offered us benefits that continue to shape my adult life and the life of my own family. Everyone should know the often completely hidden perks that homeschooling provides children long after they finish their high school coursework.

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Student Workers Union to ‘Maximize Chaos’ at UC Campuses After Pro-Palestinian Protest Crackdown

South Carolina Sun Staff
Pro-Palestine Protest

The University of California graduate students union plans to “maximize chaos and confusion” on campuses in opposition to administrators’ responses to pro-Palestinian protesters in recent weeks, a UAW 4811 leader said.

On Wednesday, the union voted to authorize a strike on UC campuses, it announced on X. UAW 4811 represents 48,000 graduate and undergraduate student workers and researchers.

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CDC Estimates Decline in U.S. Overdose Deaths in 2023, Totals Remain ‘Staggering’

The Center Square
Woman with pills

Provisional estimates show drug overdose deaths declined about 3.1% nationwide, but multiple states reported increases of more than 20%.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s provisional estimated overdose deaths in 2023 declined about 3.1% to 107,543. That’s down from 111,029 in 2022. Two out of every three deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, a cheap and potent opioid smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico.

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Reporters Describe Findings from Sweeping Expose on Major Trans Health Organization

South Carolina Sun Staff

Two reporters from the Daily Caller News Foundation outlined their findings from a series of reports on the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) Wednesday.

DCNF investigative reporter Megan Brock and DCNF culture reporter Kate Anderson obtained footage from WPATH’s September 2022 Global Education Institute (GEI) and over 100 pages of documents, which included some members of the group questioning the organization’s “Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8” (SOC 8). Brock and Anderson discussed the findings on “The Charlie Kirk Show” after guest host Andrew Kolvet played a clip from the footage obtained by the DCNF.

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California University Puts President On Leave After Caving to Anti-Israel Protesters’ Demands

South Carolina Sun Staff

California State University (CSU) put Sonoma State University (SSU) President Mike Lee on leave after he sent a campus memo signaling an agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters that did not receive the “appropriate approvals,” according to a Wednesday CSU press release.

Lee issued an “encampment update” Tuesday evening, establishing an “Advisory Council of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)” and detailing his intention for the university to boycott and divest from Israel. CSU Chancellor Mildred García subsequently announced Lee was placed on “administrative leave” due to his “insubordination and consequences it has brought upon the system.”

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Commentary: At WNBA Ceremony, Biden Urges America to Support the Women’s Sports He’s Destroying

South Carolina Sun Staff
WNBA event at the White House featuring the players for the Las Vegas Aces

In previous years, people might have missed the irony. But not now—not after the meteoric rise of women’s basketball.

When the WNBA champs visited the White House last week, reporters didn’t cover it out of obligation. They covered it because it was a real story. And President Joe Biden’s betrayal of girls sports only made it more of one.

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Commentary: American Schools Are a Big Reason Our Children Are Unwell

South Carolina Sun Staff
High School students

With “Teacher Appreciation Week” now behind us, it’s crucial that we pay close heed to the well-being of the students, and the news is not good. Gen Z-ers and the newest crop—Generation Alpha—are struggling, and schools are the focal point of the problem.

A new report from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation surveyed more than 1,000 Gen Z students between the ages of 12 and 18 and found that just 48 percent of those enrolled in middle or high school felt motivated to go to school. Only half said they do something interesting in school every day. On a similar note, a new EdChoice survey reveals that 64 percent of teens said that school is boring, and 30 percent feel that it is a waste of time.

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Analysis Finds That George Mason University Has Nearly 100 DEI Staffers

Gianna Ross

George Mason University has at least 87 staffers working on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to an analysis by The College Fix. To put that in perspective, there are 59 full-time history and art history professors employed at the school.

Of the 87 DEI posts, it’s a mix of employees and students with full-time or part-time positions working to advance DEI in some capacity, and most of those positions appear to be paid and full-time, the analysis found.

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