Good Morning!
Speaking of his four-year marriage to Joy Davidman, C.S. Lewis wrote:
“The most precious gift that marriage gave me was the constant impact of something very close and intimate, yet all the time unmistakably other, resistant – in a word, real.”
A new report suggests there are things our government can do to help make marriage more attractive to all:
1. The benefits of marriage shouldn’t only be for elites
Dr. Brad Wilcox writes in the Deseret News:
In 1970, there was virtually no marriage divide in America. Whether rich or poor, middle class or working class, a clear majority of men and women were stably married.
No more. A new report we published at the Social Capital Campaign spotlights a growing marriage divide that separates Americans by class and education. Of 18- to 55-year-olds, the share of those who are married from an upper-class background is 60%. However, this figure falls to 20% for the poor. (It is 40% for the working class.) Again, what is especially striking about this divide is that it was basically nonexistent in the 1970s.
Too many of our social welfare policies, such as Medicaid and the earned income tax credit, penalize marriage among lower-income families, which is one reason there’s a marriage divide. One study found that a working-class family with two children in Arkansas stood to lose almost one-third of their real income if they married. Federal and state governments should work to reward marriage, not impede it.
This is why we also think any congressional effort to revive and expand the child tax credit should give a bonus to married parents. “Policymakers should right the wrongs of existing marriage penalties and offer a tangible validation of marriage’s value to children,” as Wilcox and Wells King recently noted in the Deseret News. “Married parents eligible for the child tax credit should also receive a 20% supplement.”
2. 70 Missing Children, Victims of Sex Trafficking and Abuse, Recovered in Texas During ‘Operation Lost Souls’
From CBN:
A team of federal, local, and state law enforcement agencies has located and recovered 70 missing children as a part of a three-week operation in West Texas, the Department of Homeland Security announced.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and numerous other federal, state, and local agencies took part in “Operation Lost Souls” that ran from the end of April through mid-May in El Paso, Midland, Ector and Tom Green counties.
The children recovered included victims of sex trafficking, and physical and sexual abuse, according to law enforcement officials. Many of the children and teenagers are runaways and range in age from 10 to 17.
RELATED:
California Senate Passes Bill No Longer Requiring Teachers To Report Certain Student Incidents To Law Enforcement
From the Daily Wire:
The California State Senate passed a bill lifting requirements for teachers to report certain incidents to law enforcement just days after a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, shot and killed 19 children and two teachers in an elementary school.
Senate Bill 1273 states that current law holds that a person “who willfully disturbs any public school or any public school meeting is guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.”
The bill in question would make it so enrolled students would no longer be held liable for such an offense.
“Kids should feel comfortable and not traumatized at school,” Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena), the bill’s author, said at a March Senate hearing.
RELATED:
Our Children Have a Right to their Innocence
From The Daily Citizen:
A pre-born child’s right to life has been hotly debated for the last half-century, though in reality, the abortion controversy stretches back thousands of years.
But while many continue to inexplicably grapple with the most basic of all questions, it might be necessary to make clear children have another right, too – the right to grow up in peace, free from having their minds warped and their nerves frayed and wrought by anxieties not of their making.
Today’s children have been figuratively and literally caught in the crosshairs and crossfire of a culture gone mad. It should sadden and madden every adult.
Truth be told, kids are overstressed because too many parents and other adults have foisted their own stresses and strains on them. In short, we share too much and make the mistake of thinking kids can carry more than they can – or should.
As moms and dads, it’s our responsibility to carry many of the heavy loads of life for our young children. Just because it’s a 24/7 news culture, that doesn’t mean we have to share or make available every breaking headline or discuss the controversies with our children.
3. Christian Grad Student Sues University for Emotional Distress, Damage to Reputation
From The Daily Citizen:
Maggie DeJong should be familiar to readers of The Daily Citizen. Earlier this year, we reported on the young woman’s experience as a graduate student in art therapy at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where simply offering a Christian perspective on issues discussed in her classes, on social media and among her peers, resulted in official “no contact” orders involving several of her “offended” classmates.
Her professors and classmates publicly criticized her for her viewpoints. The school “investigated” her after issuing the “no contact” orders, only to drop its investigation after DeJong’s lawyers with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) sent the university a letter challenging its actions as a violation of her First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion.
But after attempting to destroy her reputation and causing her emotional distress, the university did nothing to repair the damage after it dropped its investigation. Nor did it change any of the policies that led to DeJong’s nightmare.
That failure to make things right has led DeJong to sue the university in federal court.
4. New Oklahoma Law Protects Students’ Privacy in Restrooms, Locker Rooms
From The Daily Citizen:
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has signed into law a bill, SB 615, that protects students’ privacy by requiring separate showers, locker rooms and restrooms for boys and girls in Oklahoma’s public schools.
The new law defines “sex” as “the physical condition of being male or female based on genetics and physiology, as identified on the individual’s original birth certificate.” It then goes on to require schools with multiple occupancy restrooms or changing areas to restrict those areas for either the exclusive use of the male sex or the exclusive use of the female sex.
The law responds to the current cultural climate in which schools and school districts in various parts of the country are cowering before the radical gender ideology of the left, which holds that men can be women and vice versa simply by asserting it to be so.
That’s not how biology works. Nor is this in agreement with Scripture. But when culture goes woke, responsible legislatures respond appropriately, as Oklahoma has done.
The law provides a “reasonable accommodation” for those students who don’t feel they can abide by the sex-specific law: schools should provide them with access to a single-occupancy restroom or changing room.
5. 48 Republicans Sign Letter Telling Chuck Schumer They Will Filibuster Any Bill Funding Abortions
From Life News:
Some 48 Republican members of the Senate have signed a letter telling Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer they will filibuster any legislation forcing Americans to fund abortions.
Earlier this year, Joe Biden and Senate Democrats put together a budget plan to eliminate the Hyde Amendment and force Americans to fund abortions for the first time since Hyde became official in the 1970s. Although Americans are forced to fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business and its global abortion agenda with their federal tax dollars, Americans have not generally paid for abortions with their tax dollars since Hyde became an annually adopted provision in Congressional spending bills.
The Hyde Amendment has saved at least 2.5 million babies from abortion and it enjoys the support of a majority of Americans — including people who support abortion.
RELATED:
The blue city playbook for defying abortion bans
From the Washington Examiner:
Liberal cities are taking preemptive steps to preserve access to abortion in the event that the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in June by de-prioritizing enforcement of statewide restrictions within city limits, a strategy modeled on successful efforts to allow drug use in blue enclaves.
Abortion rights advocates expect to see a proliferation of city-level proposals directing law enforcement to de-prioritize enforcement of abortion restrictions if the court overturns Roe, thereby handing the authority to regulate abortion to states. The chance that the court will overturn the 1973 decision appears high given the full-throated rejection of Roe in a leaked draft opinion from Justice Samuel Alito.
“Potentially, you will see this catch on,” said Rachel Rebouche, the interim dean of the Temple University Beasley School of Law. “It’s something that I’ve been thinking a lot about, which is that there are going to be all these different jurisdictional questions that pop up after Roe v. Wade is overturned because states are monolithic.”
The strategy would be similar to the one that many cities and states have used to circumvent the federal ban on marijuana. While marijuana is federally illegal, many liberal states and cities have decriminalized marijuana or set enforcement laws as the lowest priority for municipal law enforcement. Among the first cities to do this were Seattle; Oakland, California; San Francisco; and Denver.
- Biden’s Title IX Rewrite Is an Assault on Women’s Rights
From the Wall Street Journal:
Title IX is a simple anti-discrimination mandate that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating “on the basis of sex.” Yet, without congressional authorization or other constitutional authority, the Biden administration is writing new Title IX rules to socially engineer every aspect of the educational experience—from student speech and school athletics to high-school locker room use and relationships between adult college students.
In perhaps the most sweeping change to federal law ever enacted by unelected bureaucrats, the administration’s draft rules redefine “sex” to include “gender” and “gender identity.” This would require every educational institution that receives federal money to allow biological men into women’s locker rooms, sororities and other previously female-only spaces. Any school that attempts to prevent the next Lia Thomas from competing on a women’s team will have its federal funding snapped back—under the same law that once required schools to increase athletic opportunities for women and girls.
The Biden rules would also limit the ability of parents to exempt their children from lessons on choosing one’s sex, while empowering schools to transition children without receiving parental consent or even informing parents. Because the new rules both redefine “sex” to mean “gender identity” and carelessly expand the definition of harassment to include protected speech, schools are already punishing children who use biological pronouns to refer to their classmates.
Out of a single sentence barring discrimination on the basis of sex, the Biden administration is illegally rewriting federal law to erase women and undermine constitutional liberties. Because the scope of the proposed rules is so vast, and its implementation is being managed by bureaucrats behind the scenes, average Americans may not have noticed. They need to wake up.
RELATED:
Matt Walsh’s Documentary ‘What Is a Woman?’ Airs at The Daily Wire
From The Daily Citizen:
Today marks the beginning “LGBT Pride Month,” and The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh is releasing a new documentary, What Is a Woman?
The film airs tonight, June 1, at 8:00 Eastern Time, for Daily Wire members.
Walsh started his broadcast of The Matt Walsh Show today by announcing, in his usual sardonic style, “The holy month of ‘Pride Month’ begins today, and we’re kicking it off by waging an all-out assault on gender ideology, with my new film which premieres tonight.”
The political and cultural commentator first noted that the whole month, now celebrated by Fortune 500 corporations, celebrates several of the “deadliest of sins,” including the sin of pride.
- Hinckley, who shot Reagan in 1981, granted full freedom
From Reuters:
A federal judge on Wednesday granted John Hinckley, the man who shot and wounded President Ronald Reagan and three others in a 1981 assassination attempt, unconditional release from the remaining restrictions he faced, U.S. media reported.
During a hearing in Washington, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman lifted travel and internet usage restrictions against Hinckley, who has been living on his own in Williamsburg, Virginia, Fox News reported. Friedman’s order will take effect on June 15, it reported.
During a hearing in September, Friedman said he would grant Hinckley unconditional release, but gave prosecutors more time to monitor Hinckley as he transitioned to living on his own following the death of his mother.
Friedman at the time said Hinckley’s mental health problems were “in remission” and he no longer posed a danger.
- JPMorgan CEO warns economic ‘hurricane’ is approaching America: ‘You’d better brace yourself’
From TheBlaze:
JP Morgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon warned Wednesday that an economic “hurricane” is forming that could unfortunately make landfall in the United States.
Speaking at a financial conference in New York, Dimon disclosed that America’s largest bank is preparing itself for the impending storm, Bloomberg News reported.
“You know, I said there’s storm clouds but I’m going to change it — it’s a hurricane,” Dimon warned.
“You’d better brace yourself,” he added. “JPMorgan is bracing ourselves and we’re going to be very conservative with our balance sheet.”
- Mother Gives Birth To Child In Pacific Ocean In Viral Video
From the NY Post:
This proud new mom is making a splash online — and in the water — after filming herself delivering her baby in the waves of the Pacific Ocean.
Josy Peukert posted her original Instagram video back in February, but it’s just now blowing up to the tune of 200,000-plus viral views thanks to social media word of mouth spreading.
The 27-year-old’s unconventional water birth has resulted in commenters alternately hailing her as “empowering” and “endangering,” but she dives right in while explaining her motivation.
“Because the conditions were right on the day — that’s what I did,” Peukert told Jam Press of her special delivery, which went down off the sandy shore of Playa Majagual, Nicaragua.
10. The Curious and Sordid History of the Fast Vegas Wedding – and the Looming Ban of Elvis Presley
From The Daily Citizen:
If the lawyers have their way at some wedding chapels in Las Vegas, Elvis will soon be leaving the building.
The licensing company that manages the estate of Elvis Presley has ordered operators of Elvis-themed chapels to stop using his image and brand. Numerous venues have been exploiting the “King of Rock and Roll” for decades, offering Elvis impersonators to sing and even officiate at wedding ceremonies amidst long sideburns, gaudy velvet and lanky leisure suits.
Las Vegas has long prided itself on being the “Wedding Capital of the World” – a designation harkening back to the 1930s when Clark County simplified and shortened the requirements for marriage. Unlike in other states, no blood test was required, and the traditional waiting period was waived.
Not surprisingly, the county’s motivation was money. With the country mired in a depression and the area wallowing in the middle of a barren desert, first came the legalization of gambling – and then the easing of marriage rules. Soon, lovebirds were flocking to the area. Many poorly thought-out weddings led to eventual heartache and heartbreak for many – but they also equated to more dollars for everyone else.
So, Elvis may be exiting stage left or right at Vegas chapels, depending upon the facility’s layout – but his lyrical words of his famed “Love Me Tender” song, written in 1956, nevertheless still ring true for all those who have pledged their love and fidelity to their beloved:
“Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go. You have made my life complete, and I love you so. Love me tender, love me true, all my dream fulfilled. For my darlin’ I love you, and I always will.”
