CVS Health Corp. settled with nurse practitioner Robyn Strader after she sued the company after it stopped providing religious accommodations regarding “pregnancy prevention services.” Strader said she had been granted a religious exemption for six years permitting her to not prescribe contraceptives and filed the lawsuit in January 2023 after having been fired following the policy change in 2021, according to the press release. First Liberty Institute, which represented Strader, announced Monday that CVS had agreed to a settlement of which the terms “were not made public.” “We are thrilled that Robyn was able to reach a resolution with CVS,” Stephanie Taub, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, said in the press release. “We are hopeful that companies across the country will recognize the religious liberty of their employees and work to protect those rights.” ? VICTORY: We've reached a settlement with CVS on behalf of client Robyn Strader. This TX nurse practitioner wanted a religious accommodation from prescribing contraceptive medication that she believed could end the development or life of an unborn child. https://t.co/npr5yLnimi— First Liberty Institute (@1stLiberty) May 20, 2024 “We can confirm a settlement was reached. We are pleased that this matter has been resolved,” Mike DeAngelis, CVS executive director of corporate communications, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Strader had worked at a CVS Minute Clinic in Texas since 2015 and had been able to send patients requesting contraceptive services to another practitioner either at the same location or nearby, according to the lawsuit. She argued that the company had retaliated against her for her religious beliefs. Strader’s lawsuit requested that CVS be stopped from enforcing its policy and provide “compensation for past and future pecuniary losses.” “Respecting the religious beliefs of workers and providing reasonable accommodations is not optional under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. We are pleased for Robyn,” Jonathan Berry, a managing partner at Boyden Gray PLLC, which also represented Strader, said in the press release. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post Major Pharmacy Chain Settles With Christian Nurse Over Contraceptives Case appeared first on The Daily Signal.

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Is it antisemitic to point out that the massive, left-wing funding apparatus set up by Hungarian American hedge-fund billionaire George Soros has bankrolled many of the organizations behind anti-Israel protests and riots on college campuses? The Southern Poverty Law Center says that it is, and it smeared Sen. Ted Cruz for citing a Politico report on Soros funding. Cruz, a Texas Republican, isn’t letting it stand. “Leftists cannot defend their ideas on the merits, so they instead resort to censorship and cancel culture,” Cruz told The Daily Signal in a written statement Tuesday. “The SPLC is a chief smear apparatus of the modern Left, and it dutifully attacked me for citing Politico’s investigative report linking George Soros’s money to the antisemitic riots at college campuses across the country,” he noted. “Instead of attacking people for speaking the truth, the SPLC should investigate why George Soros was financially supporting rioters who used horrific antisemitic slurs and attacked Jewish students.” Soros Funding Two weeks ago, Politico’s Shia Kapos wrote an article revealing that “some of the biggest names in Democratic circles”—specifically Soros, the Rockefeller family, and Hyatt Hotel heirs Susan and Nick Pritzker—have been funding the groups that support anti-Israel protests. Many of the protesters have reportedly harassed Jewish students, shouting antisemitic slogans. Two groups, Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, receive funding from the Tides Foundation. That organization gets hefty funding from Soros’ charitable groups Foundation to Promote Open Society (which gave more than $10 million to Tides from 1998 to 2018) and Open Society Foundations (which gave more than $12 million to Tides during that same period). Soros declined to comment to Politico, but a spokesperson for the Open Society Foundations said the charity has “funded a broad spectrum of US groups that have advocated for the rights of Palestinians and Israelis and for peaceful resolution to the conflict in Israel.” A few days after Politico published the report, Cruz highlighted it during a news conference on Capitol Hill. “I want to finally underscore a very important story that broke last week came from Politico, and it was a story [about] the funding for the anti-Israel, antisemitic, anti-American protests occurring at universities across the country,” Cruz said. “Much of the funding came from Joe Biden and the Democrats’ biggest donors.” “Here’s who Politico identified: George Soros, the Rockefeller brothers, Bill and Melinda Gates, and the Pritzker family,” the Texas Republican added. SPLC’s Attack The SPLC published an “analysis” Thursday condemning the “far right” for using “decades-old antisemitic tropes to denounce the protests as inherently antisemitic.” The SPLC claimed that Soros “is not only a Holocaust survivor but also an outspoken critic of governments and administrations that stifle the free exchange of ideas.” Conservatives often portray him “as a boogeyman” and “a puppet master behind the scenes,” the organization noted. The SPLC quotes author Emily Tamkin to suggest that any criticism of Soros’ funding is an antisemitic trope. “We have moved past the point where it can even be called out as antisemitic because it’s now so baked into” American sociopolitics, Tamkin told the SPLC. People may even criticize Soros funding “not realizing it is an antisemitic trope,” she argued. The Southern Poverty Law Center claimed Politico’s article merely “hinted at a supposed connection between Soros and the campus protests for a cease-fire in Gaza,” claiming that the fact-checking organization PolitiFact had “thoroughly debunked” any such connection. The SPLC added: “Politico has had to attach a long series of corrections to the piece.” So how did PolitiFact supposedly “debunk” the connection? The outlet acknowledged that “Soros’ grant-making organization, Open Society Foundations, has awarded grants to some groups … linked to the demonstrations.” Yet PolitiFact downplayed this link, stating that “connections between Soros’ money and specific campus protesters involved several degrees of separation.” Soros critics such as Ted Cruz don’t believe that the 93-year-old philanthropist is personally handing out checks to rioters on the front lines. Rather, they note that the financier’s massive funds contribute money to groups that help organize the anti-Israel protests. PolitiFact didn’t even try to “debunk” this, because it is simply true. As for Politico’s corrections to its article, none directly involved Soros. Politico corrected the record on the Gates Foundation and the year in which the Rockefeller Brothers Fund contributed to the Tides Foundation. Noting that Soros funding is behind the antisemitic riots is not itself antisemitic—it also is simply true. Soros himself may not support protesters’ harassment of Jews on college campuses, but it is completely fair to point out that his money, going through intermediaries, has helped the protests. Vested Interest in Defending Soros The Southern Poverty Law Center’s tactics here should not be surprising. As I explain in my book “Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center,” the SPLC rightly sued Ku Klux Klan groups into bankruptcy. It then took the program it used to monitor the KKK and weaponized it against mainstream conservative and Christian organizations, branding them “hate groups” and “antigovernment extremists.” The SPLC also has benefited from Soros. The Foundation to Promote Open Society gave the SPLC a $75,000 grant in 2016, “to convene an ‘Anti-Hate Table’ of national anti-bias and Muslim, Arab, and South Asian community organizations.” According to my analysis of IRS records, the Tides Foundation—one of the funds at the center of Politico’s article—gave the SPLC more than $1 million between 2018 and 2022. The SPLC just might have a vested interest in responding to attacks on Soros funding and the Tides Foundation. The post EXCLUSIVE: Ted Cruz Slams SPLC for Calling Criticism of George Soros Funding ‘Antisemitic’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Bette Midler Wonders...

A Showdown with Gangs is Imminent as First Kenyan Police Arrive in Haiti

Welcome to Woke of the Weak, where I’ll update you about the most woke, progressive, insane and crazy clips and stories that the left thinks is tolerable and well, point out why exactly they’re nuts. This week, we witnessed some of the worst examples of how far out of touch with reality so much of the left is. It seems that with pride month being on the horizon, the left has stepped up its insanity. Two parents need to have their custody revoked this week. One was a queer individual who snuggled up to his child that he conceived in a petri dish. A different father shared a video where he and his son matched eyeshadow. Apparently that wasn’t grooming, but instead was a way of supporting his kid… Next up was a person who explained that she (?) wasn't a man, used he/him pronouns but was also trans-nonbinary and liked her boobs but not her butt. If you’re confused, same! After that was a grown man who was given a microphone and stage time to moan into a microphone and shake not only his upper body but his private parts, too. The left has no decency! Speaking of a lack of decency, two transgender men - so women - showed off their mastectomy scars. To close out, we heard from a man who lives in America and was at a beach, in America, and complained that he saw American flags. While he seemed pissed off, he didn’t seem near as mad as the final clip which showed a group of absolutely unhinged ladies in the woods screaming and crying. That’s what’s up on this week’s Woke of the Weak!

The cast of ABC’s The View has made it clear for a while now that they’re in the tank for President Biden. But while they denounced even the Democrats who challenged him, co-host Joy Behar admitted to guest comedian Bill Maher on Tuesday that she self-censors her criticism of Biden because she was afraid she could help elect former President Trump by pointing out the truth. Behar was in a bit of disbelief that Maher would dare to call out “the crazy stuff on the left” and admits she was afraid to do so: BEHAR: I'm nervous about saying anything against Biden because I feel – not that I have so much power and you have some more than I do obviously, but -- MAHER: oh, I don't know about that. BEHAR: Are you afraid that you might influence the people who are on the fence? Maher argued that if you don’t call it like you see it, “you lose all credibility.” “My bond with my audience has always been I don't pull a punch. My bond with my audience is you're not going to like everything I say but you know I'm saying what I really think is true,” he said. He went on to lament that “Biden just presents as old. It's not really fair.” Recalling a recent speech Biden gave, he described the President as “cadaver-like.” “But his brain is good. He’s still great,” Behar clownishly pushed back.     Earlier in the show, before Maher was on the set, Behar proclaimed that people who wore MAGA hats should “put a swastika on the hat.” Maher decried the idea because it involved hating half the country and he didn’t want to do that: Look, I'm not going to defend Donald Trump ever but I would never say that we should put the swastika on the cap because I think you can hate Donald Trump. You can't hate everybody who likes him. It's half the country. I don't want to live in that country. I don't want to live in the country where I hate half the country. And I don’t hate half the country. “How dare you disagree with me in public,” Behar quipped. Coming to Behar’s defense later in the show, Maher said: “Joy is a wonderful human being and she should not be afraid that people are going to attack her because she said the thing about the swastika on the cap. She does not think that all -- as you said to me in the break, you do not think that all the people who are for Trump are Nazis.” Behar said that she didn’t think all of Trump’s supporters were Nazis, but she wanted “them to pay attention to words like ‘vermin’ and ‘poisoning the blood.’ And the Third Reich. That’s all. That's really what I'm asking.” “You can hate Trump. You can't hate everybody who likes him. It is half the country,” Maher reiterated. “I have some in my family. I don't think they're Nazis,” Behar added. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View May 21, 2024 11:09:43 a.m. Eastern (…) JOY BEHAR: By the way out there, that hat that you keep wearing – that red hat that says Make America Great Again, that tells people that you go along with this so might as well put a swastika on the hat. (…) 11:27:26 a.m. Eastern BEHAR: I'm nervous about saying anything against Biden because I feel, not that I have so much power and you have some more than I do obviously, but -- BILL MAHER: oh, I don't know about that. BEHAR: Are you afraid that you might influence the people who are on the fence? MAHER: I think you lose all credibility. I do. My bond with my audience has always been I don't pull a punch. My bond with my audience is you're not going to like everything I say but you know I'm saying what I really think is true. BEHAR: Right. MAHER: And that's – [Applause] Okay. And, look, Biden just presents as old. It's not really fair. BEHAR: No. MAHER: Because he's almost the same age -- Trump is almost the same age as him but Trump doesn't present that way. You look at somebody right away, you can kind of just sum them up. We are not young, but we don't present as old? Biden does. I saw him yesterday making that speech. I mean, I'm sorry, he's cadaver-like. BEHAR: But his brain is good. He’s still great. (…) 11:30:00 a.m. Eastern MAHER: Look, I'm not going to defend Donald Trump ever but I would never say that we should put the swastika on the cap because I think you can hate Donald Trump. You can't hate everybody who likes him. It's half the country. I don't want to live in that country. I don't want to live in the country where I hate half the country. And I don’t hate half the country. BEHAR: How dare you disagree with me in public. [Applause] [Laughter] (…) 11:43:46 a.m. Eastern MAHER: Joy is a wonderful human being and she should not be afraid that people are going to attack her because she said the thing about the swastika on the cap. She does not think that all -- as you said to me in the break, you do not think that all the people who are for Trump are Nazis. BEHAR: No, I don't. I don’t. I just want them to pay attention to words like “vermin” and “poisoning the blood.” MAHER: Of course. BEHAR: And the third Reich. That’s all. That's really what I'm asking. MAHER: They see Trump as a comedian. They see him as a clown who says crazy things. BEHAR: They saw Hitler like that. MAHER: Right, okay, but – You can hate Trump. You can't hate everybody who likes him. It is half the country. BEHAR: I have some in my family. I don't think they're Nazis. (…)

Former CEO of Home Depot Bob Nardelli made clear how the policies of President Joe Biden will continue to damage the American economy in the near future. During the May 20 edition of Fox Business’s Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, Nardelli agreed that further inflation was ahead due to Biden’s policies, especially his climate change-obsessed energy policy. “Day one of this administration they started the war on fossil fuel. And what I've seen over the past three-and-a-half years is that there's a series of debacles and missteps have created a tremendous pressure on the fault lines, if you will, of our economy and they're about ready to crack,” Nardelli said. He effectively suggested that the dismal American economic situation is teetering on being an irreparable catastrophe, regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election in November: “Whoever gets the next stint in the White House is going to be hit with a wrecking ball in trying to correct the missteps and the overspending of this current administration, Maria, so we’re in for a rough time I would say.”  Nardelli and Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo were responding to a brutal report from The Wall Street Journal that highlighted an embarrassing factoid for Biden: “Adjusted for inflation, net worth was up just 0.7% through Biden’s first three years, compared with 16% through Trump’s first three years.” Biden has also presided over the devastation of Americans’ savings and declining wages, while prices continue to spike.  Nardelli also went after Biden’s absurd regulatory warfare on the American auto industry, warning that Biden’s eco-extremist energy policies would ultimately strain the grid. “They've been shutting down coal plants because of this war on fossil fuel and the grid is in a very very fragile state. And it will take years to improve the sustainability and durability of this grid,” Nardelli said.  He went on to criticize the president for pushing for electric vehicles, adding to electrical grid demand even as Biden’s regulations threaten the coal and natural gas that fuel the grid. Nardelli didn’t mince words about how “the hypocrisy and the ambiguity of this administration challenges common sense.” Conservatives are under attack! Conservatives are under attack. Contact ABC News at (818) 460-7477, CBS News at (212) 975-3247 and NBC News at (212) 664-6192 and demand they tell the truth about the Bidenomics disaster.

Days after the release of surveillance video showing Diddy violently attacking his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, the hip-hop icon took to social media to apologize. “It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life. Sometimes you got to do that,” Diddy began in a video posted to social media. “I hit rock bottom, but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.” “I was disgusted then when I did it; I’m disgusted now,” he added. Diddy then claimed he’s sought professional help through therapy and rehab and asked “God for his mercy and grace.” “I’m so sorry, but I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry,” he concluded. Host of “Fearless" Jason Whitlock believes the apology was completely empty. “Very weak; very insincere; very self-preservatory ... very disingenuous. It was all damage control. There’s no true sorrow; there’s no true repentance,” Whitlock explains, adding, “Diddy is obviously copping and apologizing because the tape came out.” “The man has denied these allegations for years, said it did not happen for years. And now that the tape has been released, he’s been, ‘Well, I can’t lie and say it didn’t happen so let me go out here and put my sad face on and pretend like I’m sorry and issue an insincere apology,’” Whitlock continues. Considering how much is going on and has been revealed lately about rappers and the rap industry itself, Diddy should be going even deeper with his apology. “If Diddy’s interests were truly about making amends with the American people and trying to salvage his ability to live in America as a free man, he would become a whistleblower on hip-hop,” Whitlock says. Not only that, but Diddy has recently come under fire — and was even raided — for his alleged role in a sex trafficking organization. “We’ve all been sitting around waiting for Diddy to get arrested. It has not happened, and it speaks to probably the level of dirt he has on other high-profile celebrities, politicians, influencers,” Whitlock says, adding, “They’re not ready to lock up Diddy. He might very well actually get away with this." Want more from Jason Whitlock?To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

"Jersey Shore" star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino revealed that he became friendly with infamous lawyer Michael Cohen while in a federal correctional facility, despite having "different values."Sorrentino served time in prison for tax evasion, and while behind bars he said he ate lunch beside Cohen every day. Sorrentino said he was incarcerated in Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville, which he described as a "regular prison" for "high-profile inmates," adding that it was a "very nice prison."Speaking to "Jackass" star Steve-O on his podcast "Steve-O's Wild RIde!" the host brought up some of Sorrentino's notable inmates."Okay, so you're in Otisville prison ... with Donald Trump's former fixer, attorney Michael Cohen.""Yes, I was!" Sorrentino replied. "He sat next to me every day for lunch.""Is he just a really likeable guy?" Steve-O asked."He was very nice to me, he was very nice to me. I don't necessarily ... I mean everyone has different values and things like that, but he was very nice to me. I think he's a pretty fascinating character," the MTV star replied.Sorrentino noted that since coming out of prison he has seen the headlines that have featured Cohen but has chosen to largely ignore those news stories."I see what's happening in the news right now, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna keep scrolling, right," he said.'The other prisoners made cheese sandwiches and put them on his bed.'Sorrentino added that he was lucky enough to serve his time in the "high-profile prison," which he said was mostly filled with "white-collar" criminals. However, not unlike most prisons, the reality TV star said that racial divisions were still present."The Russians and Jews ran the prison, so I was learning Russian, a little Spanish ... it was an interesting experience, and I used it as a tool to make me a better man. You know, have the accountability. I paid my restitution, paid my fines, stayed sober, I lost weight," he continued."To be honest with you, that is how they work. As soon as you walk into prison, if you're Italian or white, that group will come up to and, I'm not going to say claim you, but it's like a package. You go with your own people."Sorrentino explained that before he entered the facility, his wife began receiving messages from the wives of prisoners who promised to help him during his time served."My wife's [direct messages] were full" with support from wives of prisoners who said 'we're going to welcome you,'" he recalled. "They really looked out for me. I was well fed [and] any extra perks ... they definitely took care of me."Steve-O also pointed out that Sorrentino shared prison time with Billy McFarland, who went away for several years for fraud after the fiasco that was the Fyre Festival. The 2017 music festival was meant to be a luxurious retreat with high-profile acts and five-star accommodations, but it turned out to be little more than mattresses in tents with cafeteria lunches."You were also in prison with the Fyre Festival guy," Steve-O remarked."Yes, he was definitely a loner, Billy McFarland. I think I played basketball with him a couple times," the Staten Island, New York, native remembered. "He definitely kept to himself. I think when he first came to prison, as a joke the other prisoners made cheese sandwiches and put them on his bed because that's what he did for all the Fyre Festival participants," he laughed.The 42-year-old spoke about his past drug problems and failure to pay taxes on the podcast and detailed stories from his book, "Reality Check.""The Situation" still stars in MTV's "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation," one of cable TV's last remaining hit shows.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Cellphone video shows the moment a Texas middle-schooler grabbed a teacher and threw her sideways against a classroom wall amid a fight with another student Monday, The fight took place Monday at Hurshel Antwine Middle School in El Paso, which is part of the Socorro Independent School District, KTSM-TV reported in reference to the video, which the station said has gone viral.Separate thuds are audible when she hits the wall and then lands on the classroom floor.KTSM's video report said the social studies teacher was trying to break up a fight between two of her students. The teacher is seen in the clip getting between the students in a classroom before one of the students appears to throw a punch past her, grabs her shoulders, and throws her sideways against a wall.At least one of her legs is seen leaving the ground during the throw. Separate thuds are audible when she hits the wall and then lands on the classroom floor.An unredacted video shows that the student who threw the teacher against the wall appears to be the aggressor in the fight with the other student, throwing repeated punches while the other student doesn't fight back. The one-sided dust-up continued for nearly 20 more seconds after the teacher was thrown.The teacher soon rises to her feet after several seconds, and two individuals — presumably other teachers — enter the classroom, with one of them yelling, "What are you doing?" according to the unredacted video, as the students are separated.The teacher who was thrown into the wall appears to collapse into a seated position on the floor. Image source: YouTube screenshotKTSM said the following message was sent to parents: “Hello, this is Patricia Fernandez, principal of Hurshel Antwine Middle School. I am calling to inform you that an altercation occurred among students in a classroom on our campus today. This was an isolated incident between individual students. The students involved are being addressed by administration and law enforcement, as appropriate. There was no threat to other students or the campus. Thank you for your continued trust and support of Hurshel Antwine Middle School and Team SISD.”The station said it reached out to the school district for comment.Lone Star Live said district officials didn't answer when asked if the woman in the video is a teacher or if she she was injured. The outlet added that officials didn't answer when asked what kind of punishment the students involved might face, if they would be expelled, or if they would be sent to an alternative education program.Officials also didn't answer when asked if teachers have panic buttons in their classrooms or if police are assigned to each school, Lone Star Live reported, adding that officials also didn't respond when asked who will decide whether or not to pursue charges in the case.Blaze News recently looked into a dozen disturbing instances when students got brutally violent with teachers. Fight at Socorro ISD school goes viral on social media youtu.be Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!