Louder's guide to Europe's annual festival of song, Eurovision

Yesterday, anti-gun New York legislators introduced a bill designed to COMPLETELY ban the sale of Glock handguns and other semi-automatic pistols. They are targeting a major manufacturer with S9225, but it’s worse than that. According to United Liberty, it likely bans most semi-automatic pistols. The bill bans pistol converters and convertible pistols. The bill claims […] The post NY Gun Bill Could Ban All or Most Semi-Automatic Pistols appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

San Francisco is spending around $5 million a year to give vodka shots and glasses of beer to homeless people with severe alcohol addiction in an effort to cut down on calls to police and hospital stays, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. The city’s “managed alcohol program” started during the COVID pandemic, but came under fire earlier this week after Adam Nathan, the chair of the Salvation Army San Francisco Advisory Board, posted a thread on X, saying he “stumbled upon the building where they have this program.” “The location is an old hotel in SOMA,” Nathan wrote. “Inside the lobby, they had … kegs set up to taps where they were basically giving out free beer to the homeless who’ve been identified with AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder).” Nathan said that while “some limited studies” on the strategy have shown “some promise,” he’s concerned about the amount of money the city is spending on the program and the way the program is set up, adding, “people in the program just walk in and grab a beer, and then another one. All day.” Did you know San Francisco spends $2 million a year on a "Managed Alcohol Program?" It provides free Alcohol to people struggling with chronic alcoholism who are mostly homeless. I stumbled upon the building where they have this program. This is what I saw.? — Adam Nathan • blaze.ai (@adampnathan) May 8, 2024 Nathan said the city spends $2 million a year on the program, but the Chronicle reported that the “managed alcohol program” now costs San Francisco around $5 million a year. The city’s Department of Public Health says the program has served 55 clients and has grown from 10 beds to 20 beds, located in a former hotel in the Tenderloin district, an area known for its high rates of homelessness and drug use. Shannon Smith-Bernardin, a UCSF School of Nursing professor who helped create the controversial program, argued that the goal of the program is to stabilize the alcohol use of the homeless addicts “so they’re not binge drinking or stopping drinking and having seizures,” according to the Chronicle. The San Francisco Fire Department said the program “has proven to be an incredibly impactful intervention” at reducing emergency service use for a “small but highly vulnerable population.” In a 2020 article explaining the program, the California Health Care Foundation wrote, “Established in countries such as Canada and Australia, a managed alcohol program is usually administered by a nurse and trained support staff in a facility such as a homeless shelter or a transitional or permanent home, and is one method to minimize harm for those with alcohol use disorder,” Fox News reported. “By prescribing limited quantities of alcohol, the model aims to prevent potentially life-threatening effects of alcohol withdrawal, such as seizures and injuries,” the California Health Care Foundation added. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Other “harm reduction” programs run by the city for drug addicts have been criticized, including by Democratic Mayor London Breed who said in February that they are “not reducing the harm” and “making things far worse.” A man who is in recovery for heroin addiction also slammed “harm reduction” programs, telling the Chronicle, “Are we just going to manage people’s addictions with our taxpayer dollars in perpetuity forever? It seems like that’s basically what we’re saying … I think we should be spending that money on detox and recovery.”

With all the talk of women’s reproductive rights this Mother’s Day, my perspective is that without first surviving an abortion, I would have never had the opportunity to become a mother – whether it was through pregnancy, adoption, or kinship care. It’s no secret that abortion is a defining political issue in 2024. As these conversations, campaigns, and debates ensue, there are realities, voices, and relationships that are often overlooked. While I acknowledge everyone has a complex relationship with someone else in their life, here is my story. I grew up in a loving home in Iowa, knowing I was adopted, (along with my older sister) to parents who loved me. I would say I had a great childhood. But, at the age of fourteen, I accidentally found out that I survived an abortion, which crumbled the world I thought I knew. I wrestled with not only the typical angst of figuring out who I was, independent from my family, but with the layers of being adopted and as an abortion survivor, it was confusing. Subconsciously, I felt unloved and unwanted because of the culture surrounding me – the culture that often communicates that abortion is not only a choice, but a right. It created a narrative for me that a child who is aborted is unlovable and unwanted. I began to struggle with self-worth and identity, even with a caring and supportive adoptive family I wondered, “Am I loved?” When my birth mom was 31 weeks pregnant, her mother, a prominent nurse at a local hospital, forced her to have a saline-induced abortion to end my life. For days they injected a toxic solution into the amniotic fluid, a solution designed to poison and scald me until I was delivered dead. On the fifth day, I was born, leading my birth mom to think the abortion was successful. I was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) — and unbeknownst to her for decades, lived, and was placed for adoption. I was devastated when I learned the truth about my past. I didn’t want to be a survivor. I felt a range of emotions from guilt for surviving when thousands of other babies had not, to resentment towards my birth family, to ultimately feeling alone. I didn’t know of any other abortion survivors who shared the same experience.  As a young adult in my twenties, I embarked on a journey to not only learn more about my past but to heal. I went to counseling and began processing forgiveness towards my birth family, still unaware of the circumstances surrounding my birth. While studying for my social work degree, I began seeing common threads to apply to my own story and healing. Self-awareness about the residual anxiety and fears of being a survivor through my studies became an important part of my healing, while unknowingly also laying the foundation for the future services of The Abortion Survivors Network. I knew I was adopted and had survived a saline abortion attempt, but the details became clearer after ten years of searching. I tried countless times to find my birth family and one day, I found some identifying information. Yet, the biggest breakthrough was found through my medical records, which had been unattainable for me over my ten years of searching. When I finally received those papers, I discovered more details of my “birth”, along with my birth parents’ names. I had more answers to my abortion survival story and could finally begin attempts at making contact with my birth family and learning more about my origins in life. In 2016, I reunited with my birth mother. For over thirty years, she was led to believe the abortion had been a success. This revelation brought a new level of understanding about women who have walked through abortion, including those whose abortions fail. I will never forget the pain in her eyes when we first met — a pain that my survival helped dull, but the pain from an attempted abortion I could never erase. Reconciliation brought not only peace within my story but a new compassion and a fight for women like my birth mother. Women who often feel like they have no other choice. Healing Helps Us Find Our Voice  After going public with my story over the years, I started hearing “me too” in return. I found solace in knowing that I wasn’t alone as an ‘abortion survivor’. Connecting with other survivors helps to make sense of our own story and answer many questions that we may not have known existed. The cultural conversations surrounding abortion are at a new high. It seems each state is fighting for abortion, not to mention it is the year to vote for the next president of the United States. But what about my right to live? What about my fellow survivor friends? What about the pre-born babies still fighting for their lives? This Mother’s Day, I feel the increased importance to share my experience — for the sake of not just survivors like me, but our mothers — biological and adoptive. There is a glaring gap of care and understanding for survivors and their families, including women like my birth mother, Ruth, and my adoptive mom, Linda. For all women, those who have experienced an abortion know that you aren’t alone, or who raise an abortion survivor and have questions and concerns they’re grappling with, we need to acknowledge that these circumstances happen. * * * Melissa Ohden, is the founder and CEO of The Abortion Survivors Network and is a pro-life speaker, leader, and advocate who often appears on television and radio shows. She has spoken on Fox News, The 700 Club, Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), One America News (OAN), Hannity, Focus on the Family, and more. Having earned her Master’s in Social Work, Melissa is also the author of You Carried Me: A Daughter’s Memoir. If you or someone you know is an abortion survivor, please reach out to Melissa Ohden at melissa@abortionsurvivors.org The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

The Northern Lights danced across skies all around the world last night (May 10), and photos coming in show that they peaked in vivid blues, greens, pinks, and purples. Some of us were able to witness the Aurora Borealis, and others sadly missed the event due to weather, light pollution, bad timing—or because we simply didn’t know about the epic geomagnetic storm that’s currently raging. Fortunately, that storm will continue sending Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) our way tonight, which means we’ll get another chance to experience the Northern Lights. Those of us here who missed the event last night will not make the same mistake twice. Make sure you don’t either! But if you live too far south or you won’t have a clear view, we have some breathtaking pictures and videos of the beautiful show from last night that will help quell your FOMO. The Northern Lights Danced From Europe To The United States The Northern Lights in Switzerland painted the sky with watercolors. Northern Lights dazzle UK and US after Solar stormThis is from Switzerland #solarstorm #Auroraborealis pic.twitter.com/TCgysrVhHT— Sumit (@SumitHansd) May 11, 2024 People in Cleveland, Ohio, had gorgeous, almost unreal views of the lights. Last night’s Northern Lights in Cleveland, Ohio. pic.twitter.com/Qd5MkXRdX9— Alex Farmer (@alexfarmerphoto) May 11, 2024 This video of a reindeer beneath the neon green Aurora Borealis is magical. Reindeer beneath the Northern Lights. : Aurora Borealis Observatory pic.twitter.com/x444Tmfven— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) May 11, 2024 The show over Pittsburg, PA, was so intense that it outshined the city lights. I still can't believe what we all got to witness last night. The Northern Lights. Over #Pittsburgh. I've sat outside for hours countless times over the years, even if there was the slightest chance we could see them and have always come up empty. Not last night. Absolutely unreal pic.twitter.com/eIFsw8PG2a— Dave DiCello (@DaveDiCello) May 11, 2024 We’d hang this breathtaking photograph of electric pink lights over England’s Crosby Beach in our homes. Northern Lights over Crosby Beach @stevesamosa pic.twitter.com/85pLC97SPQ— ScouseScene (@scousescene) May 11, 2024 Another epic shot of the Northern Lights—this time over the Golden Gate Bridge. Northern Lights over the Golden Gate Bridge captured by Hugo Lageneste. Would’ve never thought living in the Bay Area we would ever see the aurora borealis but last night was incredible pic.twitter.com/MerV88eOeF— Drew Tuma (@DrewTumaABC7) May 11, 2024 Don’t forget to check the sky for another round of the Northern Lights tonight. They are typically at their peak between 10 PM and 3 AM, but you should start looking up at dusk. Last night, some areas had their best views much earlier than expected. You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post The Northern Lights Dazzled Skies Last Night, See Pics From Around The World appeared first on InspireMore.

'My larger point here is that this man is a real threat'

'Since mid-April, floods have killed dozens of people'