Good Morning!
The late French novelist Andre Malraux once noted:
“Man is not what he thinks he is – he is what he hides.”
Our first story features one of the most devious and deceptive organizations operating in America today:
- Planned Parenthood Profits from Death, Misery and Misfortune
Focus on the Family president Jim Daly writes:
Would it surprise you that the same organization often credited with being the largest provider of sexual education in the United States is also the same group that performed the most abortions?
Planned Parenthood trades in lies and propaganda each and every day, including the falsehood that promoting so-called “safe-sex” is ultimately effective. It’s not.
As we await the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban and the possibility of Roe’s fall, I’ve been thinking lately about this type of duplicitous behavior. Planned Parenthood not only promotes harmful things – they also ultimately profit from them.
Founded by the racist eugenicist Margaret Sanger, this awful organization performs well over 300,000 abortions each year and receives over a half a billion in taxpayer dollars. They try to downplay the abortions and play up education and other services. In fact, they regularly brag about reaching over a million students per year with their misleading sex ed curriculum – teaching that not only encourages promiscuity but also exponentially increases a person’s risk of developing sexually transmitted diseases.
Planned Parenthood’s propaganda is a feeder for future abortions. Put another way, the organization profits from its bad teaching – at the expense of innocent pre-born life and the happiness of women and men consumed by their lies. Kids are lulled into thinking sex outside marriage is acceptable, inevitable and carefree. They then wind up getting pregnant – and going to Planned Parenthood to “solve” the “problem.”
Nightingale-Bamford, an elite private school for girls in Manhattan, recently came under fire for bringing in the infamous abortion provider as part of a “Health and Wellness Day.” The institution, which charges $56,000 a year tuition, says they’re committed to providing an educational environment that will encourage its student to “take control of their physical, emotional and social selves.”
Ironically, Planned Parenthood’s training and involvement leads to the exact opposite. If a teenage woman wants to truly take control of her life, she should abstain from sex and reject the organization’s heartbreaking propaganda.
In a recent essay in The New York Times, former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards lamented the likelihood of life winning in June. In her usual misleading fashion, she wrote, “The Roe decision not only made abortion in the United States extremely safe, it led to higher earnings, increased education levels and greater participation in the work force for generations of women, particularly black women.”
First, abortion is never safe because it always results in the death of a human being. Second, at the same time Ms. Richard celebrates abortion as a panacea for black women, she completely ignores the fact that black babies are disproportionately killed each year. While 12% of the population is black, 38% of all abortions involve black women and children. Leave it to Planned Parenthood to claim a victory where there is a clear, gruesome and convincing defeat.
Profiting from death, misery and misfortune is an age-old problem but one that has become part and parcel of Planned Parenthood’s ongoing business model. As Christians, we must keep our eyes open and aware, especially when organizations like America’s largest abortion provider claims one thing and does the other.
- America’s Epidemic of Mindless Behavior
From the Wall Street Journal:
The urban crime spike has revived the phrase “broken windows.” The article of that name, published in the Atlantic 40 years ago, deserves a big new readership for what it tells us about the collapse of order. It is far more nuanced about effective policing and less rotely “law and order” than its critics purport.
But the ideas in “Broken Windows” aren’t only about controlling crime in poor neighborhoods. They are about the basics of intact communities, and therefore relevant for a broader U.S. society that has become unwilling to police or fix the broken windows of daily life. The authors, George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson, described the risks: “Failing to do anything about a score of drunks or a hundred vagrants may destroy an entire community.”
The primary culprits aren’t the perpetrators running wild through a society that has devalued accountability. The blame lies with the adults in the room, the establishment elites, who have so often explained away and validated this behavior.
The persistent erosion of behavioral norms, which are hard to establish, was put in motion by the left but eventually expanded to the right. The 2020 Democratic National Convention said nothing about that summer’s looting, just as some on the right fell into after-the-fact rationalizations for the Capitol riot.
Justifications for convention-smashing behavior are always at the ready today, but the cumulative corrosion of standards—what Kelling and Wilson call “the informal control mechanisms of the community”—is now taking a toll on Americans’ presumptions about the internal stability of their country.
- Biden to nominate Black woman by end of February to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Breyer
From Fox News:
President Biden said Thursday that he will announce his nominee to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer before the end of next month, and that that candidate will be a Black woman.
“I’ve made no decision except one: The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court,” Biden said. “It’s long overdue, in my view.”
Biden also said Vice President Harris will advise him in the selection process.
Related: Senator Says Breyer’s Replacement Should Not Make Decisions Just Based On The Law
Related: As Supreme Court Hears Challenge Against Race-Based College Admissions, Joe Biden Wants Race-Based Supreme Court Nominee
- Oregon Bakers Who Refused Wedding Cake for Two Women Have Damage Award Reversed by Court
From The Daily Citizen:
It’s another one of those “good news, bad news” stories involving religious freedom and freedom of speech in the marketplace.
First, the good news.
Aaron and Melissa Klein, the Christian couple who owned Sweet Cakes by Melissa, a bakery shop in Gresham, Oregon, have been fighting the state of Oregon for ten years over their refusal, based on their religious beliefs, to create a wedding cake for two lesbians. After being found guilty of sexual orientation “discrimination” by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) and fined $135,000 for causing emotional distress to the two women, the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling. The Kleins appealed their case all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that Oregon’s actions violated their religious and free speech rights, and that the state appeals court should not have affirmed BOLI’s ruling.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the Supreme Court. Jack Phillips, the Colorado owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, arrived there first with a very similar claim. After the high court ruled that Colorado’s hostility to Phillips’ religious beliefs violated the state’s responsibility to remain neutral on such matters and reversed the lower courts in that case, the justices decided to send the Kleins’ case back to the Oregon Court of Appeals to reconsider its ruling in light of what the high court said in the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision.
The Kleins had another day in court in January 2020 as their attorneys argued to the judges on the Oregon Court of Appeals that their earlier ruling was in error.
Over a year later, the Oregon appellate court has finally issued a new ruling in the case. It reversed the damage award against the Kleins because, the judges said, BOLI expressed its own form of hostility to religion by calling the Kleins’ religious views “prejudiced” and in effect, punished the couple for Aaron’s use of a quote from the Book of Leviticus about homosexuality in a discussion with the mother of one of the lesbians involved.
But the news isn’t all good. While the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed the damage award, it affirmed BOLI’s original ruling that the Kleins had discriminated against the two women seeking a wedding cake. It also remanded (i.e., sent) the case back to BOLI to, in effect, take a second look at the damages issue and do so with a more “neutral” view toward the Kleins’ religious beliefs.
- NCAA, leaders are deliberately turning a blind eye to injustices in women’s sports
From Fox News:
They used to call me “the fastest girl in Connecticut.” But I couldn’t outrun an injustice.
For four years, I competed as a high school runner and made it to the state championships every one of those years. But in my junior year, I lost four of the state titles I earned to males who identified as females.
They give awards based on who wins—typically the person with the strongest muscles, the greatest lung power, the fastest speed—not based on how a person identifies. At the end of the race, it’s about biology, not gender identity. And no amount of testosterone suppression can change a male’s innate physical advantages, like bone structure and muscle mass.
And fast as I am, I can’t outrun those advantages. Or the injustice that protects them.
For saying that out loud, I’ve been branded by some as a sore loser and a hater. But what I object to has nothing to do with hate.
- Navy Discharges First Officers For Refusing To Take COVID-19 Vaccine
From The Daily Wire:
The U.S. Navy announced on Wednesday that it has discharged its first 45 members who have refused to take the Armed Forces’ COVID-19 vaccine.
The concerning report could grow in number, as the latest update from the Navy on Wednesday revealed nearly 8,000 of its personnel remain unvaccinated. The total includes “5,035 active component and 2,960 Ready Reserve service members.”
Among the first 45 Navy service members released included 23 Active Component Sailors, along with 22 Entry Level Separations (ELS). ELS members refer to members within their first 180 days of active duty, according to the report.
Despite 3,258 “active duty requests” for a religious accommodation for exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine, zero requests have been approved. As of Wednesday, just 10 permanent medical exemptions, 259 temporary medical exemptions, and 59 administrative exemptions have received approval.
In addition to active duty requests for a religious accommodation, 776 Ready Reserve members have made a request. Zero have been approved.
- IRS to Require Facial Recognition to Access Online Functions
From National Review:
The Internal Revenue Service will require taxpayers to upload videos of their faces in order to access some online functions beginning this summer.
In order to log in to the IRS website, where taxpayers can access child tax credits and complete payment plans, taxpayers will need to send a video of their face to facial recognition contractor ID.me to confirm their identity. Taxpayers will also need a government document such as a driver’s license along with the video selfie.
The IRS said Americans can still file tax returns and make payments from a bank or credit card account without facial recognition procedures.
“The IRS emphasizes taxpayers can pay or file their taxes without submitting a selfie or other information to a third-party identity verification company,” the agency told CNBC last week. “Tax payments can be made from a bank account, by credit card or by other means without the use of facial recognition technology or registering for an account.”
Roughly 70 million Americans have already scanned their faces to ID.me to file for unemployment benefits, child tax credits, and other services, according to the Washington Post.
- Ukrainian Christians Speak Out About Dire Consequences of Potential Russian Invasion
From The Daily Citizen:
If you have turned on a news channel this week, in between stories about Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retiring and reporting on the surge in illegal immigration, you’ve likely seen story after story about the impending Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is complicated and has been years in the making.
Now, the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops of the United States have written an appeal, warning about the dire consequences the people of Ukraine face due to the potential invasion.
“During the Christmas season, some 100,000 Russian troops have been positioned on three sides of Ukraine: a nascent democracy, a country on a pilgrimage to freedom and dignity from the fear of a totalitarian past in which 15 million people were killed on Ukrainian territory,” the bishops penned.
“After eight years of war initiated by Russia, Ukraine has lost a substantial part of its territory. 14,000 people, including children, have been killed, 1.5 million have been internally displaced, several hundred thousand agonize near the frontline, and millions suffer from post-traumatic stress. There are 400,000 traumatized Ukrainian veterans of the Russian war and thousands who have lost their loved-ones.
- Baseball Writers Get it Right – Cheaters Have No Place in Hall of Fame
From The Daily Citizen:
Former Boston Red Sox slugger and designated hitter David Ortiz, better known as “Big Papi,” was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday, the lone player chosen this year by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
The Veterans Committee announced six additional selections, including Gil Hodges, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Jim Katt, Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil.
Notably missing once again from induction ceremonies in Cooperstown this July will be Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa – three players with stellar statistics who dominated their shared era, shattering records and grabbing headlines for decades.
All three were also accused of using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).
The “steroids era” encompasses nearly three decades, beginning in the 1980s and carrying on thru the early 2000s, when Major League Baseball finally began testing for them. Officially, 89 players were accused of using, though common sense would suggest many more partook given the number of years with no oversight or accountability.
Fans of Clemens, Bonds and Sosa might be disappointed, but in so many ways, it’s refreshing to see baseball writers doing what even Major League Baseball executives didn’t – holding players accountable for cheating and disgracing the game.
10.Millennials have discovered a crazy new hack for finding romance called “actually going on dates” and it sounds crazy but I think it might just work
From Not The Bee:
It can be easy, after you’ve been married a few years, to forget how brutal it can be out there as a single person, always looking for love and coming up short.
Thankfully, the Millennial generation has found a hot, hip new way to find a potential romantic partner; it’s something they’re calling—in typical incomprehensible Millennial jargon—a “date.”
Last Thursday night, 10 people were lined up for admission to Hair of the Dog, a sports bar on the Lower East Side that usually draws crowds for Sunday football viewing and day drinking. When they reached the bouncer, each was asked to provide documentation for entry: government-issued ID, proof of vaccination and a dating app profile, not that any of them were there to swipe.
Rather, a company called Thursday was hosting a singles’ mixer — an antidote to online dating fatigue. Attendees expressed all kinds of frustrations with modern romance: matches that seldom lead to more than small talk; the time-suck of parsing profiles for redeeming qualities and red flags; a documented pattern of racial discrimination on dating apps; and a general sense of hopelessness…
I think it’s clear that this sort of arrangement—this “in-real-life meeting”—has the potential to utterly transform dating forever.
