Good Morning!
“I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives,” wrote Abraham Lincoln. “I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.”
As we head into the Independence Day weekend, a look at some evidence there is more of both:
- Even More Proud to Be an American this Independence Day Now that ‘Roe’ is Gone
From the Daily Citizen:
It’s the first Fourth of July since Roe v. Wade was rightly overturned, constitutional order has been restored, and justice has finally been served for the more than 63 million babies who have lost their lives to the tragedy of abortion in the last 49 years. This Independence Day, I am moved with even more gratitude for this wonderful country that I am blessed to call home because I am reminded again of America’s exceptionalism.
America is the only country in the world that was founded on an idea – virtuous freedom. Freedom to do the right thing. It’s what sets her apart and makes her a beacon of light. It’s what makes her exceptional among all nations. She hasn’t always gotten it right, but when she gets it wrong, she adjusts course and continues to be, as Lincoln put it, “the last best hope on earth.”
Since 1973, America has gotten it wrong on abortion. Just like she got it wrong on slavery until she corrected course and finally got it right.
I was born just nine years after Roe became the law of the land. My generation was the first to be sacrificed on the altar of abortion.
I remember being a young teenager and thinking how lucky I was that my mom chose life for me. You see, my mother and I were the abortion industry’s target population. She was unwed, on her own, low income, in a hopeless situation and already had the responsibility of other children. I was inconvenient. It would have been easier for her to get an abortion. Thankfully, she didn’t.
In the last 49 years, though, too many women have listened to the abortion industry’s voice of despair and fear. In desperate situations, the abortion industry has whispered lies into their ears, convincing them that death was the best option for their baby.
RELATED:
Independence Day Barbecue Cost – 17% Increase From Last Year
From the Daily Citizen:
The Daily Citizen doesn’t want to rain on your Independence Day celebration, but the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) marketbasket survey reports that the overall cost for a cookout for 10 people “is up 17% or about $10 from last year.”
The AFBF said the rising costs are “a result of ongoing supply chain disruptions, inflation and the war in Ukraine.”
In a news release, the federation stated:
U.S. consumers will pay $69.68 for their favorite Independence Day cookout foods, including cheeseburgers, pork chops, chicken breasts, homemade potato salad, strawberries and ice cream.
2. ‘Imperialism of woke culture’ is greatest threat to religious freedom worldwide: ADF president
From the Christian Post:
Michael Farris, president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, discussed the state of religious freedom at home and abroad in an interview with The Christian Post ahead of his moderation of a panel at the second annual International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., Thursday.
Explaining that many people, especially Christians, find themselves on “the receiving end of efforts to silence them, to cause them to lose their careers” and “not have the ability to even get their opinions out in public society,” Farris said “the dominance of woke culture that thinks it’s OK to silence people who disagree is very dangerous in many respects for freedom of speech and freedom of religion” in the U.S.
Farris told CP that “in some sectors of the world,” the greatest threat to religious freedom is “the same as the United States,” specifically, “the imperialism of woke culture.” He maintained that the “totalitarian mood” behind woke culture extends to the dominant orthodoxies in other countries as well: “In India, for example, Hindu nationalism operates on a very, very egregious basis and tries to close down people that are differing.”
3. Millions of Women Will Be Free from Abortion’s Hidden Costs
From Public Discourse:
The rhetoric of bodily autonomy (“my body, my choice”) is meant to empower women, but it places an agonizing burden squarely on their shoulders. Fathers who say they’ll support any decision leave mothers isolated in deciding the fate of the child they conceived together.
Unwelcome pregnancies present a challenge with no easy solution. This challenge is not unique to our culture: in ancient Rome, for example, undesired babies were discarded in dumping grounds. Today, rates of unplanned pregnancies remain high: around 45 percent of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended.
When a baby enters the scene unexpectedly, it’s understandable that parents sometimes blanch initially. New life means significant adjustments: pregnancy is hard on women’s bodies, and children require vast effort, time, and resources. Adult lives must be rearranged to accommodate these tiny new ones. But it’s hard to see how presenting women with a devastating choice is the best solution to the dilemma of undesired pregnancy. No woman—whether due to social, economic, family, or romantic pressures—should face the horror of considering whether to end her baby’s life.
- Lloyd Austin Shouldn’t Draft the Pentagon into the Abortion Wars
From National Review:
The fall of great organizations happens gradually. They tend to crumble from the inside out. That is what we are seeing with the latest self-caused disaster at the Department of Defense (DOD), which has walked itself into a political minefield.
In a statement last Friday after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that nothing was more important to him or to the DOD than “the health and well-being of our Service members, the civilian workforce and DOD families.” Emphasizing his commitment to “taking care of our people and ensuring the readiness and resilience of our Force,” Austin said that he was “examining this decision closely and evaluating our policies to ensure we continue to provide seamless access to reproductive health care as permitted by federal law.”
To begin with, there is no reason for the DOD to issue any statement regarding Dobbs. The DOD needs to adjust exactly zero policies to comply with this ruling. It does not affect service members. Yet our DOD leadership could not resist weighing in on a political issue, while taking a swipe at one of the three branches of government enshrined in the Constitution that the military is sworn to uphold. The DOD has no business reviewing and commenting on Supreme Court decisions. So why do it? The implication is so that it can find ways to provide abortions to American service members, in clear violation of U.S. law and against the intent of the U.S. Congress. If Congress wants to weigh back into this and provide funds for abortion, then that is its job. It most certainly is not the job of the DOD to question one branch of government and look to circumvent another.
- Despite Supreme Court Tuition-Assistance Decision, Maine Attorney General Declares Christian Schools Will Still be Excluded
From the Daily Citizen:
When the U.S. Supreme Court recently decided that Maine’s policy of excluding religious schools from its tuition-assistance program violated the First Amendment, the average person – even the average lawyer – probably assumed that the high court meant what it said.
But Maine’s top lawyer, Attorney General Aaron Frey, isn’t your average person – or lawyer. Following the Supreme Court decision on June 21, Frey released a statement expressing disappointment with the high court’s ruling, but then criticized the Christian schools involved in the case, warning that such schools would still not receive any government funds if they hold to their biblical values about sexuality and marriage.
“Public education should expose children to a variety of viewpoints, promote tolerance and understanding, and prepare children for life in a diverse society,” Frey’s statement reads. “The education provided by the schools at issue here is inimical to a public education.
“They promote a single religion to the exclusion of all others, refuse to admit gay and transgender children, and openly discriminate in hiring teachers and staff. One school teaches children that the husband is to be the leader of the household.”
- ‘Lightyear’ Bombs at Box Office Proving to Disney That Parents Don’t Want Propaganda
From the Daily Citizen:
What happens when a woke corporation (Disney) tries to push homosexuality in children’s movies?
Parents push back, and the movie becomes a “box-office bomb.”
That’s what happened recently with Pixar Animation’s (owned by The Walt Disney Company) most recent children’s movie, Lightyear, which hit theaters nationwide on June 17.
A movie is generally considered a “box-office bomb” when a major studio releases a supposedly highly anticipated and expensive film, which then fails upon release and becomes a net loss for the studio.
To date, Lightyear has grossed $158 million in movie theaters worldwide, of which $94 million is domestic earnings.
That may sound like a lot, but the Walt Disney Co. spent $200 million to produce the film – and that doesn’t even include tens of millions more spent in print and advertising costs.
- America’s Coming Charity Deficit
From the Wall Street Journal:
The decline of religious belief in America will cause incalculable spiritual damage, but even nonbelievers should worry about the practical consequences of an increasingly secular U.S. Consider the ticking time bomb of philanthropic demise set to detonate in the coming years.
“People who are religiously affiliated are more likely to make a charitable donation of any kind, whether to a religious congregation or to another type of charitable organization,” according to a 2017 report from Giving USA. The organization found that 62% of religious households give to charity, compared with 46% of nonreligious ones. The Almanac of American Philanthropy reports that those who attend religious services regularly give to secular causes at more than double the rate of those who don’t.
Wealth and age matter too. The wealthiest 1.4% of the country comprise 86% of charitable donations, according to the Philanthropy Roundtable. Giving is highest among those in their 60s and 70s. That means that today disproportionately religious baby boomers, who hold a disproportionate amount of the nation’s wealth, are driving charitable giving.
Some 44% of Generation Z and 42% of millennials identify as religious “nones,” according to a recent Cooperative Election Study. As these generations amass wealth later in life, it’s unclear whether they will give with the same gusto as their more religious predecessors. The good news is that these groups are still decades away from entering their peak giving phases.
8. How to help your child win–and lose–graciously
From Motherly:
As parents, it can be hard to see your child act like a so-called “sore loser,” but the truth is that teaching children to lose graciously is an essential part of growing up. It’s a developmental milestone that can take some time and practice for children to master (and let’s face it, some adults still need a little practice).
Thanks to Leesha M. Ellis-Cox, MD, MPH, affectionately known as Dr. Leesha, a double board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist, and Happy Family Organics’ Happy Baby Expert, we have some tips to help your child handle defeat or victory with dignity.
As Dr. Leesha reminds us, “No one likes to lose, not our children and not us. But as parents, it is vital that we both validate their feelings and model desirable behaviors.” So what are you supposed to do when your child throws a tantrum after losing?
Dr. Leesha shares that empathizing and making your child feel understood is the first step. Still, it’s important to set boundaries around acceptable behavior or what’s off limits for your family—name calling, physical aggression or any other destructive behavior. “Let them feel all the feels, then help them find healthy ways to deal with their emotions.”
9. The Daily Wire, Which Now Boasts 890,000 Paid Subscribers, Signs Jordan Peterson To Its New DailyWire
From Forbes:
Over the past three months, The Daily Wire has added tens of thousands of new paying subscribers — pushing the overall subscriber number for the conservative news and media empire founded by Ben Shapiro, Caleb Robinson, and Jeremy Boreing to 890,000. That puts the company, the subscriber base for which stood just shy of the 600,000 mark back in April, within striking distance of 1 million, a number that might actually be achieved sooner rather than later as a result of a series of updates and announcements that the company laid out on Wednesday, June 29.
Just weeks after the release of The Daily Wire’s latest feature film — the Gina Carano-led western Terror on the Praire, part of the Netflix-like slate of original content that’s now an included Daily Wire subscriber benefit — the company has announced the launch of something new: DailyWire+.
That’s the name of a platform, which goes live immediately, that will house the company’s growing library of video content. All of which is the product of an effort that, by degrees, is pushing the company into a realm far afield from the web-based news site for which it’s long been known.
The Daily Wire’s video content now includes original feature films like Terror on the Prairie, as well as movies and shows geared toward children that are coming soon — in addition to The Daily Wire’s documentary titles. And there’s still more coming to DailyWire+. Along those lines, also on Wednesday, the company announced that psychologist and author Jordan Peterson has signed a multi-year deal with DailyWire+, with the latter set to handle the ad sales and distribution associated with his The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast.
10.An ancient shipwreck off the coast of Greece is yielding secrets as an archaeological exploration project dives deeper.
From The New York Times:
A team of experts searching through a shipwreck off the coast of Greece, an excavation effort that took place from May 23 to June 15, dredged up what researchers believe is the marble head of a Hercules statue from ancient Rome dating back about 2,000 years.
The discoveries at the Antikythera shipwreck included parts of marble statues, human teeth and bronze and iron nails, said Lorenz E. Baumer, a professor of archaeology at the University of Geneva and one of the lead researchers on the project. This was the second excavation season of a five-year program, led by the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece, that aims to continue research at the site, which was first discovered in the early 1900s by Greek sponge divers.
“Two thousand years is a very long time, but when you’re thinking in generations — generations of 25 years — that gives 80 generations,” Professor Baumer said. “That’s quite close.
Hope you have a great Independence Day weekend!
