Good Morning!
Here’s an incredible factoid … 90% of everything that’s been created by man since the beginning of time has been created in the last two years. How do we stand out in the midst of the current revolution?
Here are some of the top stories we’re tracking today:
1. The New York Times Covers “Unplanned”
From NYT: It was a rare packed house for a weeknight in the suburbs, and when the movie was over, the sold-out crowd of about 100 last Wednesday spilled haltingly into the light.
A few — a gaggle of nuns in their habits, at least one collared priest — wore their dispositions on their sleeves. Others communicated in muted gestures, dabbed at tears, or lingered for long stretches in the popcorn-strewn vestibule at the AMC multiplex here, as if still processing the deliberately provocative movie they had just seen.
Since March 29, similar scenes have played out across the country as faith-based groups and many others have gathered en masse to see “Unplanned,” a new movie that paints a scathing portrait of abortion rights in general, and Planned Parenthood in particular.
2. Mayor Pete Challenges VP Pence on Biblical Beliefs
Buttigieg, in a speech at LGBTQ Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch in Washington, D.C., referenced the vice president’s less-than-welcoming attitude toward members of the LGBTQ community when discussing his marriage to his husband Chasten. He called marriage equality a moral issue, saying his marriage of two years has made him a “better human being.”
“My marriage to Chasten has made me a better man and yes, Mr. Vice President, it has moved me closer to God,” said Buttigieg, a devout Episcopalian.
“I can tell you, that if me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade,” he added, to a room full of loud cheers. “And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pence’s of the world could understand, that if you have a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”
3. Surprise! Marriage and Faith Key to Happiness
David French opines in National Review:
Ask yourself, how many happy, sexually vibrant religious married couples have you seen on popular television shows or movies — even in this era of fragmented, targeted entertainment? Compare that with the number of times you’ve seen rebellion from religion glorified and religious leaders mocked and despised. And while marriage fares better on the big and small screens, single people are generally portrayed as so sexually active that they behave unlike virtually anyone you’ve ever known. The collective message that’s been delivered is something like this — singleness is exciting, religion is oppressive, and marriage is where you “settle down” (sometimes for good, sometimes for ill).
In reality, singleness is often stressful and lonely, religion provides community and purpose, and married people enjoy the excitement of more sex and the joys of unified child-rearing. Moreover, it’s fascinating (as Charles Murray explored in his book Coming Apart) — the very cultural elites who’ve so often denigrated the traditional life tend not to practice the libertinism that they often preach or at least accept. America’s upscale blue havens feature an intense concentration of “Leave it to Beaver” intact families.
4. Male/Female Babies’ Brains are Different in Womb
From LifeSite News:
A new scientific study has found that pre-born babies’ brains show significant differences between sexes and thus before any parental or societal conditioning.
In the April 2019 edition of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, an article titled “Sex differences in functional connectivity during fetal brain development” details the authors’ study of 118 unborn babies (70 male, 48 female) between 25.9 and 39.6 weeks gestational age. By looking at 16 distinct networks of the brains, they found differences between male and female fetuses in functional connectivity across gestational age. They concluded, “These observations confirm that sexual dimorphism in functional brain systems emerges during human gestation.
5. Professor loses job over transgender controversy
Allan Josephson finds once perfect performance review marks aren’t enough to save him after standing for truth. As reported in WORLD:
A little over two years ago, I wrote an article about the growing push to affirm transgenderism in children and teenagers. National Geographic had just published an issue praising the movement, and featured a cover photo of a 9-year-old boy dressed like a girl.
Ken Zucker, a secular psychologist in Canada, had recently lost his longtime position at a mental health center in Toronto for suggesting parents should try to help confused children become secure with their birth sex.
During that time, I spoke with Allan Josephson, a professor and psychiatrist at the University of Louisville, who offers similar counsel. He told me Zucker’s firing had been “an incredibly sobering experience for many professionals to see.” Many realized: “If that could happen to him, perhaps it could happen to me.”
Two years later, Josephson says it’s no longer a hypothetical scenario.
6. Are People Having Less Sex? In Japan, the Answer is Yes.
Though sex and birthrates around the world have been on the decline for years, Japan is the undisputed leader. What’s lead to the decrease? More from Forbes:
For women between the ages of 18 and 39, a total of 24.6 percent were virgins in 2015, up from 21.7 percent in 1992. Among men of the same age bracket, the percentage without sexual experience increased from 20 percent to 25.8 percent.
Analysis of the data revealed that men with busier lives and careers were more likely to get busy. Having permanent, full-time employment and living in large cities of over a million people were both associated with men having had intercourse. Men in the lowest income brackets were also 10 to 20 times more likely to be virgins than those that earned the most.
“Although the discussion around cause and effect becomes very complex when considering who becomes sexually experienced and who remains a virgin, we show that heterosexual inexperience is at least partly a socioeconomic issue for men. Simply put, money talks,” said Cyrus Ghaznavi, first author of the study.
7. Dem Presidential Candidate Calls Israeli PM a Racist
In what might be considered a desperate attempt to gain attention for his presidential campaign, Beto O’Rourke lashed out at Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. More from CNN:
Speaking in Iowa as he campaigns for the Democratic nomination for president, O’Rourke said the US-Israeli relationship was among the most important “on the planet” and singled out Netanyahu.
“That relationship, if it is to be successful, must transcend partisanship in the United States, and it must be able to transcend a prime minister who is racist, as he warns about Arabs coming to the polls, who wants to defy any prospect for peace as he threatens to annex the West Bank, and who has sided with a far-right, racist party in order to maintain his hold on power,” O’Rourke said.
O’Rourke continued, saying he did not believe Netanyahu “represents the true will of the Israeli people” or the “best interests” of the relationship between the US and Israel.
8. Christians Mourn and Repent for Silence on Abortion
As the pro-life movement continues to gain momentum, Christians gathered for the second “Day of Mourning” last Saturday to repent of their neglect and silence on the abortion issue, according to the Christian Post.
“Something is desperately wrong with our hearts when we can drive by these abortion clinics every day and sit silently by and do nothing,” said Elizabeth Johnston, who organized the Day of Mourning in Richmond.
“We walked by the cries of these babies. We have to own this. We are in the 11th hour in our country. If we don’t turn from our wicked ways now as a nation, we are toast.”
Participants were dressed in black at the “solemn assembly” where they prayed and fasted, asking God for forgiveness for the prevalence of abortion in the United States.
The first Day of Mourning observance was held in February in New York, in response to the state government passing legislation that effectively legalized abortion up to the moment of birth.
9. Middle Schoolers Prevent Suicidal Woman From Jumping Off Bridge
From the Today Show:
The quick thinking and heartfelt actions of a young group of middle school athletes are being credited for saving a woman from apparent suicide.
The volleyball team had met up for practice Saturday night at Kepler Neighborhood School in Fresno, California before heading out for a warm-up run. But what really got their hearts racing was what they spotted as the ran across a nearby bridge: a woman dangling more than 100 feet in the air by her arms.
The team coach, Murray Elliott, called 911 and told the boys to head back to the bridge. “I said immediately, ‘Go back up and get her attention. Tell her her life matters,’” he said. “So for a whole ten minutes or so they did not stop yelling, screaming, telling her, ‘Your life matters.’”
10. Chick-fil-A Tops Favorite Restaurant for Teens
Sorry, all you In-N-Out Groupies. From AOL:
Chick-fil-A is keeping its crown as teenagers’ favorite restaurant chain.
The chicken chain nabbed the No. 1 spot in Piper Jaffray’s biannual survey of teenagers across the US.
Chick-fil-A took over as teenagers’ favorite restaurant a year ago, following the chain’s steady rise as an obsession among young people. The chicken chain first made Piper Jaffray’s top-five list in spring 2012, and it spent the next five years edging up the list one spot at a time.
