NPR runs pro-witchcraft piece – The occult today is 'as trendy and as helpful as veganism or yoga'

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“This may surprise you,” says Glenn Beck sarcastically, but “witches are real” and they’re “liberal politically.”

NPR recently ran what Glenn calls “a fluff piece” on witches and the religion of witchcraft.

“Witches have long cast a spell on American entertainment, but they aren’t just a figment of our imagination. Witchcraft is a real practice, and people who practice witchcraft are all around you,” the NPR segment began.

The show goes on to interview American writer Diana Helmuth, who devoted a year of her life to exploring witchcraft.

It was “month seven before I tried to make a connection with the goddess,” whether she is “a real deity up in the sky” or “a metaphor for the interconnectedness of everything on Earth,” Helmuth explained.

“So I go and I set up this ritual to try and talk to a particular goddess,” and after “sitting in front of an altar that I made” for “about an hour, something happened – I just suddenly felt flooded with bliss,” she recounted.

“My initial reaction to this NPR story was a little eye-rolling,” admits Glenn. “Of course, NPR is on the side with witches.”

However, it’s also quite scary. “There are supposedly, according to NPR, more witches than Presbyterians,” says Glenn, and “USA Today claims … that ‘hip witchcraft’ is on the rise in the U.S.”

“You’ll find articles on witchcraft all throughout the liberal media,” says Glenn, but unlike the past, when people knew terms like "the occult" meant bad news, today’s society seems to be fascinated with the world of witchcraft.

It shouldn’t surprise you to find out that people who practice witchcraft usually run in the woke crowd.

“Witchcraft is especially popular among … transgender activists,” says Glenn, citing an academic article. He quotes:

‘Contemporary paganism portrays gender in an array of different ways and, as such, is very inclusive of sexual diversity. Much of this phenomena happens through what pagans call witchcraft. But how does witchcraft help queer and transgender pagans take part in the pagan community?”

“I looked it up,” says Glenn, and according to online sources, “witchcraft [is] an inclusive movement,” which “is seeing a resurgence among queer-identified young people seeking a powerful identity that celebrates the freedom to choose who you are.”

“Here’s what unites all of them – witches, leftists, transgender activists, NPR, the liberal media,” explains Glenn. They’re “fighting for relevance … they pester, they annoy, they shock or try to shock, in a bid to get attention,” but they “lose their power when people stop watching them or stop caring.”


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This Halloween, let's remember our dead

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Jim Carroll's minor 1980 hit “People Who Died" is a song about grief, but you probably wouldn't play it at a funeral. It's too upbeat and danceable, and its unadorned listing of Carroll's departed friends and their grim endings (falling off a roof after sniffing glue, “26 reds and a bottle of wine,” childhood leukemia) doesn't offer much in the way of solace or meaning beyond the refrain “they were all my friends, and they died.”

Still, there's something moving about just hearing their names. It could be a prayer; Carroll's Catholic upbringing surely meant he was familiar with the Catholic Church's tradition of praying for the dead. It’s a tradition closely associated with Halloween, which marks the evening before All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2).

We are all People Who Die, of course. In recent years, various gurus and influencers have rediscovered the time-honored practice of memento mori and repackaged it as a kind of for-profit self-help trick. Remembering the deaths of others is not as easily monetizable. Whether or not you consider such prayers efficacious (we do), it's a worthwhile exercise to make a list like Carroll’s. The more recent entries may be painfully fresh; others you may not have thought of in years.

Today, for no special reason, we're thinking of Faith, a high school friend who died almost two and a half years ago. Her cheerful, loquacious letters helped us through that first lonely, self-absorbed year of college. We took them for granted then (did we even write back?). When we heard she was dying, we finally sent her a proper letter of our own. Her response came via email, with an instantly recognizable warmth and wit. Somehow she said everything there was to say between us in a little over 500 words; three days later she was gone.

After years of poor health and dwindling fame, Jim Carroll died a death as lonely and anonymous as the friends in his song, felled at his desk by a heart attack while working on his decades-in-the-making “comeback” novel. Well, none of us are long for this world. Maybe remembering others is the best hope we have of being remembered in turn.

Dem governor slams school district in his state for banning Halloween events to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion

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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) mocked a Garden State school district on Tuesday for forbidding Halloween celebrations to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

On Oct. 6, Dr. Ronald G. Taylor, superintendent of the South Orange-Maplewood School District, informed parents that Halloween celebrations at schools would not take place this year.

The reasoning? Taylor suggested in a letter to parents that school-sponsored Halloween activities could create "indirect and unintentional financial hardships for students and families," could "violate the dignity of some of our students and families, either culturally or religiously," and may run afoul of the district's DEI commitment.

"As you know, [SOMSD] is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion meaningfully — not just saying the words but also promoting an inclusive school community that creates belonging for all students, families, and staff," Taylor wrote in the letter.

In another letter, the district's assistant superintendent of access and equity, Dr. Kevin Gilbert, explained why the decision was allegedly necessary. Gilbert said:

All of us realize that this breaks with what the District has usually done, and that can be a difficult thing to do sometimes. Often, working to instill greater equity in our district begins with recognizing that we cannot do what we have always done. But with this decision, we are taking a step closer to upholding our community’s access and equity values.

The decision to forbid Halloween events and costumes at school went too far for even Murphy, who is by all accounts a progressive Democrat.

"Seriously? We can't let kids celebrate Halloween? Give me a break," he reacted.

— (@)

In statements to media outlets, the school district has emphasized that officials did not cancel Halloween celebrations per se but banned school-sponsored Halloween events from taking place during school hours.

SOMSD schools can partner with outside organizations to host Halloween events outside of school hours.

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Trick-or-treating canceled due to 'nasty' cockroach infestation in Michigan neighborhood

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One metro Detroit neighborhood has canceled trick-or-treating this year, fearing kids who sought treats there might bring six-legged tricks home with them instead.

Local officials in Wyandotte, Michigan, approximately 11 miles south of Detroit, have canceled the annual Halloween custom in one area — along 20th Street between Eureka Road and Grove Street — now that cockroaches have overrun one particular house and property.

Garbage collectors first discovered the infestation issue several weeks ago and immediately reported it to the authorities.

"I think they picked up one or two bags and said, 'Whoa,'" claimed neighborhood resident Becky Wallace.

The city then warned the owners of the home that they had 30 days to take care of the problem or face eviction, but a follow-up inspection determined that they had not complied. The city will soon take possession of the home and begin exterminating the vermin.

Though the house may now be empty of people, it still has plenty of bugs. Despite efforts to contain the cockroaches to the one home, other homes have been affected, prompting concerns that tick-or-treating might further exacerbate the problem by spreading cockroach eggs. Stepping on cockroach eggs can cause them to attach to shoes, costumes, and candy bags, even as higher foot traffic increases the chances that many of the bugs themselves will be squashed to death.

"Remember when the kids were little, and they drag their costumes and they’re dragging their bags?" Wallace added, "Well, from my understanding, you can step on roach eggs and you can take them home. You can spread them. I would not want them to be taken home to mom and dad’s house."

Local officials apparently agreed. They sent a letter to area residents, informing them that trick-or-treating in that section of the city had been canceled this year and that the sidewalks there would also be closed from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday. Signs alerting parents and families who may be unaware of the problem will be posted so that kids can collect treats elsewhere.

"It doesn’t matter whether you’re a tidy person, a hoarder, roaches come in all these houses," Wallace continued.

Wallace also noted that she and her neighbors have felt "nasty" ever since the problem began.

"[W]hen you think about having either one of them in your home, it just gives you that dirty feeling," she said.

Area residents have used rubbing alcohol and bug spray to decontaminate themselves as best they can, but some are still frustrated by the municipal response.

"A lot of contents were put in the back yard, and of course, roach eggs get all over the place and cause the roaches to migrate throughout the neighborhood," said Tom Vargo.

City Councilman Todd Hanna said the insects have infested the neighborhood through "no fault of the city." The city has also offered to spray all yards affected by the bugs for free.