This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The Department of Homeland Security has, stunningly, issued a warning about possible attacks on churches heading into the 2024 election.

It has issued a new bulletin claiming that the U.S. now is in a "heightened threat environment."

"Lone offenders and small groups motivated by a range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances continue to pose a persistent and lethal threat to the Homeland. Both domestic violent extremists (DVEs) and those associated with foreign terrorist organizations continue to attempt to motivate supporters to conduct attacks in the Homeland, including through violent extremist messaging and online calls for violence," it warns.

"In the coming months, factors that could mobilize individuals to commit violence include their perceptions of the 2024 general election cycle and legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues. Likely targets of potential violence include U.S. critical infrastructure, faith-based institutions, individuals or events associated with the LGBTQIA+ community, schools, racial and ethnic minorities, and government facilities and personnel, including law enforcement."

The warning, oddly, came just days after reports revealed that the Joe Biden administration, through the DHS, was "doling out taxpayer money through an anti-terrorism grant initiative to a university program that has explicitly lumped the Republican Party, as well as Christian and conservative groups, into the same category as Nazis."

Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell released the findings. He explained MRC obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing a DHS program meant to fight terrorism was paying a group whose work has explicitly targeted the American political right.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Discrimination is banned widely across the United States on characteristics such as race, sex, nationality, and the like.

Many progressive locations have banned discrimination based on "gender" ideology under the odd idea that decades ago when Congress banned discrimination based on sex, members meant the various alternative sexual lifestyles now appearing in society.

Now New York had moved the bar further, declaring that discrimination in employment and public housing based on obesity is banned.

A report at The Federalist explained Mayor Eric Adams signed that into law Friday.

Adams said, "It shouldn’t matter how tall you are or how much you weigh when you’re looking for a job, are out on the town, or trying to rent an apartment. No one should ever be discriminated against based on their height and weight. We all deserve the same access to employment, housing, and public accommodations, regardless of our appearance."

From now on, alleged instances of such crimes will be investigated by the City Commission on Human Rights.

The move was, however, being criticized by some, including Republican City Councilman Joseph Borelli, who said it allow anyone to sue anyone and everything.

"I’m overweight, but I’m not a victim. No one should feel bad for me except for my struggling shirt buttons," he said.

The Federalists cited the mayor's move as "another hallmark example where public policy follows culture. Obesity had already become a protected class under the hierarchy of oppression outlined by left-wing social justice standards for years. In January, TIME Magazine stigmatized exercise as white supremacist four months after Lizzo, an icon of the pro-fat movement disguised as 'body positivity,' railed against 'oppression' at the Video Music Awards. But if Lizzo were a true crusader for social justice, she’d blast the food industry for driving the weight epidemic today, wherein black Americans have the highest prevalence of obesity."

In fact, The Federalist previously cited the magazine reporting in explaining that the new racist ideology includes that "conventional health and beauty standards are outdated fixtures of white supremacy."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A dispute that erupted when a schoolteacher in Tennessee snatched a cross necklace from a student before allowing the child into a book fair has been resolved with an apology from the teacher and the school.

The organization, known for fighting for religious rights across American and around the world, explained it was a "big win for religious freedom."

And the message sent by the resolution was not to "mess with the faith of our kids."

"Not long ago, we told you about a Tennessee middle school student who wore a cross around his neck to school. When the child entered the school library for a book fair, an event that many of us still remember looking forward to each year, he was greeted instead by a teacher who took the cross," the organization explained.

"That alone would be startling enough to any kid, but this educator did so in front of numerous other students as if to add to the child’s humiliation."

The ACLJ said it responded with a letter to the school, explaining that the teacher's behavior was inexcusable and, actually, a violation of the student's constitutional rights.

The ACLJ informed the school that under guidance in place at the time, "Students may display religious messages on items of clothing to the same extent that they are permitted to display other comparable messages. Religious messages may not be singled out for suppression, but rather are subject to the same rules as generally apply to comparable messages."

That would mean unless the school made sure that it confiscated, censored, or removed all "logos, quotes, product placements, or any other messaging or imagery in general that might possibly be offensive to someone" from every student, it had no right to interfere with the student's cross.

"Certainly, the wearing of a cross necklace is not impeding the ability of other students to learn or participate in classroom activities. Had the teacher singled out a Muslim student or a child of any other faith – even an atheist student – odds are there would be a media uproar and protests outside the school," the legal team explained.

The school responded with an assurance to the ACLJ that no policy at the school would prevent the student from wearing the cross necklace.

Then a meeting was held, and the school, through the teacher, the vice principal, and the community superintendent, apologized for the teacher's actions.

"We are pleased that our attorneys were able to resolve the issue without having to go to court, which would have been the likely next step," the ACLJ reported.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat with extremist ideologies, is demanding that Americans abandon fossil fuels production completely, drawing a harsh round of criticism that characterized him as "an insufferable idiot."

The comments came from Bowman during an interview on CNN with Wolf Blitzer.

"No. 1, we need to stop drilling for fossil fuels completely, and No. 2, we need an expedited way to get us to clean renewable energy, or we will continue to have these severe weather events," he claimed

A series of comments on Twitchy blasted him.

"No one has ever accused Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman of not being an insufferable idiot … because Jamaal Bowman is truly awful, and every time he opens his mouth, he gets even more awful."

The RNC Research account on Twitter simply posted the comments for people to see, and evaluate:

But others were not nearly as genteel.

The "Comfortably Smug" account said, "'We must cripple all domestic energy production so the sun God may bring us good weather!'"

And Jesse Kelly explained, "This is a call for genocide. Start treating these people like the biggest genocidal monsters in human history. Because that's what they are. Humanity runs on oil and gas. You cannot declare war on oil and gas without war on humanity itself."

Another reminded Americans, "As always, YOU are the carbon they want to reduce."

Twitchy added," When are aspiring authoritarians like Jamaal Bowman going to start volunteering themselves as a tribute for living under the policies that they insist are best for us?"

Bowman routinely is found in the middle of controversies over statements and claims.

He recently insisted that Republicans are "economic terrorists," and was offended when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she felt "threatened" by him. That happened after the two of them were in a shouting match at the Capitol.

But it seems his statements often are subject to questioning.

Regarding his decision to blame serious weather events on global warming, a Heritage Foundation report explained that there hasn't even been a significant increase in hurricanes over the last 50 years.

The report explained, "If you look at the science from both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is certainly not any type of denier of science, it's what Al Gore and the like hail as the magnum opus of climate of literature. So if you look at this IPCC report that they put out examining these types of issues, there has been no trend in both frequency or intensity of hurricanes or a lot of other natural disasters."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

In many ways, freedom of speech is vanishing in America, with "equity" demands, "pronoun" orders, and requirements for not just political, but gender, racial, and other correctness.

Freedom of religion, too, has been attacked under the Joe Biden administration, with multiple legal fights by groups that simply want to worship in their faith traditions. After all, It was Biden's administration that spied on traditional Catholics.

Now the bull's-eye is being put by the Biden administration on freedom of association.

The warning comes from Stella Morabito at The Federalist.

She has authored, "The Weaponization of Loneliness: How Tyrants Stoke Our Fear of Isolation to Silence, Divide, and Conquer," and her work has appeared at the Washington Examiner, American Greatness, Townhall, Public Discourse, and The Human Life Review.

She cites a recent "advisory" from Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called "Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation," which claims social isolation is a public health issue and suggests "government" actions to respond.

"On the surface, these six directives may look innocuous, but they present a clear and present danger to the autonomy of our private lives and relationships. The project is potentially so massive in scope that it’s not an overstatement to say it threatens to regulate our freedom of association in ways we never could have imagined," she wrote.

For instance, she said, one of the government projects would be to "strengthen social infrastructure in local communities."

On that topic, the Biden administration wants the government to define "infrastructure," and then fund various groups and "direct how they're structured."

Which, Morabito warned, would mean that "all local communities must answer to the federal bureaucracy ... ."

One component, she warned, could be new and dense housing projects and "the eventual dismantling of single-family housing."

The plan would "provide authority and justification for changes supported by radical environmentalists, all of which diminish our freedoms," she said.

"We end up with a massive federal infrastructure that can monitor the levels of social connection and disconnection in every nook and cranny of society. As described in the report, this would mean every institution, every governmental department, every volunteer association, every locality, every church, every faith community, every organization, every club, every service club, every sports league, and so on, would likely be assessed and 'strengthened' to promote social connection," she said.

Then there are Murthy's ideas to attack "policies, products, and services that drive social disconnection."

"In other words, some people are more socially connected than others, and that’s not fair. They enjoy benefits — as in 'unearned privileges' — that put others at a disadvantage. So the government needs to intervene for the sake of equity to 'spread the wealth' of social connections" she said.

This includes incorporating the leftist "diversity, equity, inclusion" agenda, she said, a plan that "serves to erase human individuality and replace it with demographic identity markers that label people as either oppressors or victims, thus cultivating more resentments and hostilities in society."

The Biden plan also would "mobilize the health sector," a scheme to expand "public health surveillance," or, in other words, "tracking your social connections and intervening when the bureaucracy deems it necessary. Big Brother sitting in on your doctor visits and therapy sessions?"

Other steps would involve centralized government control over tech development that involve human interactions, with Murthy's agenda stating, "We must learn more by requiring data transparency from technology companies."

"The advisory also backs the 'development of pro-connection technologies' with the goal of creating 'safe' environments and 'safeguarding the well-being of users.' Such phrasing has been used in recent years to justify censorship under the guise of protecting certain demographics," she warned.

Then there's a planned "research agenda" but that simply would "reflect the outlook offered by the advisory."

And, too, the government would work to "direct out social interactions and behaviors."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A stunning video has appeared online revealing a mob of an estimated 30-40 teens attacking and beating three Marines.

According to the Daily Mail, one of the Marines, Hunter Antonio, said the mob assault happened after he confronted the teens about being unruly and setting off fireworks on the beach in San Clemente, California.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Evidence already has confirmed that the FBI had open channels through which it worked to lobby social media companies to suppress information it disliked in recent elections, despite the apparent violations of the First Amendment those campaigns involved.

One incident involved the revelations about the laptop computer abandoned by Hunter Biden at a repair shop that outlined many Biden family scandals, including international business schemes.

The FBI warned social media it could be Russian "disinformation" and those companies then suppressed the details that accurately were being reported.

Now the FBI has moved to shut down the release of any more information about its dealings with Twitter.

The Washington Examiner reports the FBI is blocking the release of records of its officials "advising" Twitter workers how to attack information they disliked.

"Officials at the FBI repeatedly flagged alleged examples of election 'misinformation' in early 2020 and late 2022 to Twitter under its then-CEO Jack Dorsey, with the platform in some cases removing accounts shortly after government outreach, according to emails published by journalist Matt Taibbi in December 2022 as part of the 'Twitter Files,'" the Examiner said.

But now it has closed a records request from the watchdog Protect the Public's Trust that sought to obtain more details.

The FBI claims the information if released, could create an "unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

According to the Examiner, PPT's director, Michael Chamberlain, described the FBI's response as "nothing short of bizarre."

"They twisted the substance of the requests and then asserted the right to deny acknowledging if records even exist based upon their mangled interpretation, and even though they have already admitted that the records exist," he said.

And that, Chamberlain continued, only raises "suspicion" about what the FBI actually did.

The report confirmed Yoel Roth, formerly of Twitter, "emailed over 150 times from January 2020 to November 2022 with officials at the FBI, according to Taibbi, who published emails providing examples of the bureau calling for accounts spreading purported 'misinformation' to face repercussions."

The report explained, "In one instance, the [FBI] sent an email in November 2022 to the FBI's San Francisco office with a list of 25 accounts that were allegedly promulgating 'misinformation' and asked for the office to engage in 'coordination' with Twitter to see if they violated the 'terms of service,' emails show. That same day, assistant special agent in charge Elvis Chan at the FBI's San Francisco office wrote to the social media platform and requested to be informed if Twitter 'decide to take any actions against these accounts based on our tipper to you,' according to emails."

Within two days, Twitter confirmed it had suspended some of those accounts.

Such evidence prompted PPT to launch a vast request for information, seeking communications from 2020 to 2022 involving the FBI and Twitter.

The FBI recently said the request was "closed."

But the PPT said it has filed appeals of that determination because of the "tremendous public interest in knowing how the FBI interacted with Twitter, particularly with respect to suppressing speech by American citizens."

Under the First Amendment, the government is not allowed to censor Americans' speech. Private corporations can, on their own platforms, and the issue has developed that the government has been using private companies to do its censorship chores.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A comment has surfaced by one of Vladimir Putin's allies that could cause a bit of alarm around the globe, as it promises nuclear weapons "for everyone" who joins Russia's campaign of violence.

NBC identified the speaker as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko who explained nuclear weapons could be deployed to other nations that join the side of Russia – and Belarus – in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's army has recently been described in some reports as floundering in Ukraine, and the facts are tens of thousands of soldiers have been lost.

Lukashenko's comment came only days after he confirmed the transfer of Russian nukes to his country.

Putin, himself, periodically has suggested that the conflict would escalate into nuclear exchanges – comments that previously raised concerns among leaders in the West.

Lukashenko commented, on Russian state TV, "It’s very simple. You have to join the union between Belarus and Russia, and that’s it: There will be nuclear weapons for everyone."

He then explained he was expressing his own view.

"I think it’s possible. We need to strategically understand that we have a unique chance to unite."

The report explained it was in 1999 that Russia and Belarus formed an alliance allowing the two former Soviet republics to integrate in many ways, including militarily.

The U.S. State Department responded that it was "the latest example of irresponsible behavior" by Russia.

At the Gateway Pundit was the description of Lukashenko's "terrifying proposition."

The report said Lukashenko last week confirmed there were plans to move Russian nukes to Belarus, and that that work had begun.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A key legal team that fights for religious rights and against LGBT ideologies and the killing of the unborn through abortion has told a court that one state's 159-year-old ban on the procedures should be the law today.

"Abortion harms women physically and emotionally and kills defenseless children in the womb," explained Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver.

"Abortion is also a tool of modern-day eugenics rooted in racism to eliminate certain races and people. Arizona’s pre-Roe abortion ban will protect countless women and innocent unborn lives. The people of Arizona deserve to have their laws enforced and now it’s up to the Arizona Supreme Court to do the right thing and protect virtually all unborn life in the state."

Staver's organization, Liberty Counsel, says it has filed a friend-of-the-court with the Arizona Supreme Court in a case where Planned Parenthood, the biggest player in America's abortion industry, is insisting that state law be thrown out.

That still-existing law, from 1864 during the Civil War, bans abortions, except for life-threatening emergencies.

It had been blocked by the faulty 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe. But when that precedent fell last year, the fight moved into Arizona's courts over the historic law.

An obstetrician, Dr. Eric Hazelrigg, has been appointed guardian ad litem to argue for the lives of the unborn in the case and has petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to recognize the law, not a more recent ban on abortions after 15 weeks.

Liberty Counsel's recommendations, filed on behalf of the Arizona Life Coalition, the Frederick Douglass Foundation, and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, point out the overwhelming influence of eugenics – the failed idea that some races are more desirable than others – on the abortion industry.

"Abortion is the modern-day offspring of eugenics. Margaret Sanger and the early abortion movement promoted abortion to reduce populations they considered lesser than white or fully able Americans…Now, the abortion industry denies that all human beings have inherent value and dignity bestowed on them by their Creator, and has indisputably targeted black, Hispanic, and disabled communities for reduction," the organization said.

"For 50 years, Margaret Sanger, a nurse and activist, worked to open contraception clinics in minority neighborhoods and her efforts eventually evolved into the Planned Parenthood movement. Sanger shared the same worldview of eugenics as Charles Darwin and Adolf Hitler, and she saw abortion as a tool to help accomplish population control and to weed out the 'undesirable' races and people to evolve a better human race."

The legal team pointed out that the abortion movement from its outset has targeted the unborn in minority communities.

And, it said, Planned Parenthood "has continued its founder Margaret Sanger’s legacy of eliminating or preventing unborn children based on race, sex, and disability."

"The links between abortion and racist eugenics are manifold. In promoting birth control, Sanger advanced a 'Negro Project,' gave a speech to the Ku Klux Klan, and advocated eugenic breeding for 'the gradual suppression, elimination, and eventual extinction, of defective stocks—those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization.' She personally set up birth-control facilities in minority communities," Liberty Counsel said.

Today Planned Parenthood has intentionally located 86% of its abortion clinics in or near minority neighborhoods in the 25 U.S. counties with the most abortions, it said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

When a school in Wisconsin allowed a fiasco to develop in its shower rooms – an adult male allegedly showered nude with several young girls – the situation was bad.

But it got worse when the district demanded $11,000 from those seeking access to public records about the situation.

It is the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that wanted the records.

It said the case involved "an adult biological male" who "showered naked with four freshman girls."

It requested information about the school's locker room policy and related documents, only to face the demand for $11,000 in payments.

"While schools may charge some small fees known as 'location costs' (and many schools waive these fees), the district is illegally charging exorbitant fees as a way to hide public records," WILL reported.

WILL lawyer Dan Lennington said, "The law demands more, and the district’s embrace of secrecy is an embarrassment. Students, parents, and taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability."

Reports documented that after the man allegedly was allowed to violate the privacy rights of four young female students, WILL wrote to the Sun Prairie Area School District charging the school failed to adequately address the violation.

It sought the school's records.

The letter explained four Sun Prairie East High School freshmen girls were disturbed when the "undressed" man, 18, got into the shower with the girls.

Fox News Digital said it had an email from the principal that admitted an incident occurred.

But the school said no information was being released without the payment, which would include $934 hourly rate for officials to start gathering the documents.