Tuesday July 12, 2022
Good Day!
R.C. Sproul was right that “Most Christians salute the sovereignty of God but believe in the sovereignty of man.”
But there’s no question God uses His people to accomplish His purposes:
1. The Surprising Backstory of the Fall of Roe
From RCI:
Erin Hawley didn’t know that she would help make history when she took a job in February with the conservative legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom. Two months later, the former law professor was on a plane to Mississippi to serve as co-counsel with the state’s attorney general, Lynn Fitch, and its solicitor general, Scott Stewart, to win the most momentous Supreme Court case in half a century – the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“I think it was really meaningful for me because I had a 6-month-old that I actually took to Mississippi to that meeting,” Hawley said of her efforts to end the constitutional right to abortion. “It made why Dobbs matters really concrete, to be talking about this legal strategy and these issues with a baby in tow.”
The role of Hawley, wife of Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, and the central role played by the Alliance Defending Freedom, are part of the untold story behind the case that overturned Roe and Thomas E. Dobbs, State Health Officer of the Mississippi Department of Health, et al. v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Their relative anonymity was not an oversight, but instead part of a deliberate strategy reflecting the political sensitivities of today’s partisan political landscape.
Though Erin Hawley was a Supreme Court clerk under Chief Justice John Roberts and her legal acumen is not in doubt, her husband, a former state attorney general, is a bête noire of abortion activists and other liberals. Knowledge of her involvement behind the scenes would have been an unwelcome distraction to her legal team.
2. Biden administration says hospitals must provide abortions in emergencies
From NBC News:
The Biden administration said Monday that federal law allows women access to abortion in emergencies, even in states that banned the procedure after last month’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
The Department of Health and Human Services said that in cases of health emergencies, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act — a 1985 law that ensures access to emergency care regardless of a person’s ability to pay — takes priority over state laws banning abortion.
“Under the law, no matter where you live, women have the right to emergency care — including abortion care,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement Monday. “Today, in no uncertain terms, we are reinforcing that we expect providers to continue offering these services, and that federal law preempts state abortion bans when needed for emergency care.”
HHS said it is up to physicians to determine what qualifies as an emergency, but it cited examples such as miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies or dangerously high blood pressure.
RELATED:
Will abortion ruling drive Colorado Democrats, independents to the ballot box ahead of midterms?
From the Denver Post:
For anti-abortion voters who believe life begins in the womb, that’s always been a motivating factor, Focus on the Family spokesperson Paul Batura said. But while he marks the Dobbs decision as a “huge victory” for people who have fought against abortion for decades, state law also factors into their mood.
He said the Reproductive Health Equity Act, which was signed this spring and establishes the right to an abortion in Colorado law, “shocked” a lot of people due to its permissiveness toward abortion.
The law does not include limits on when a person may terminate their pregnancy. Before its signing, Colorado law did not address a limit on when a person may get an abortion. Republicans in the state legislature mounted heavy opposition to it, while Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said it “simply codifies existing protections in statute.”
“(Dobbs) is a watershed moment for life,” Batura said. “But if you’re only looking at the state-by-state motivation, I think the pro-life community was awaked months before Dobbs and the reversal of Roe.”
In Colorado, like much of the country, it’s unaffiliated voters who determine elections. Those voters eclipse each party in registration. And while recent shifts in abortion rights, both for and against them, may motivate the politically engaged, Democratic political consultant Ted Trimpa said he’s “frustratingly pessimistic” that abortion rights won’t break through to many who aren’t.
While it’s a dominating topic now, it’s a long time until November, he said.
“I don’t think it’s going to be the fire (Democrats) want it to be,” Trimpa said, referring to motivating voters. “I hope I’m wrong.”
3. CatholicVote Launches $3 Million Ad Campaign To Remove Catholic Democrats From Office
From the Daily Wire:
A new political ad from CatholicVote has lashed out against a Catholic Democrat for not speaking out against vandalism targeting churches and pro-life pregnancy centers.
The ad blasts Rep. Cindy Axne (D-IA), accusing her of passively standing by while churches have been attacked for their pro-life views.
“Radical liberals are behaving like terrorists, calling for a summer of rage,” the ad begins.
The spot also references an act of vandalism at a Des Moines pregnancy care center. “Cindy Axne could stand up for law and order but instead she does nothing,” it claims.
The campaign marks a strong contrast with past elections, featuring a solid emphasis on speaking out against self-proclaimed Democratic lawmakers whose views are not consistent with Catholic teachings.
4. Over 900 babies born through Christian agency’s embryo adoption program
From the Christian Post:
A Christian adoption agency’s embryo adoption program has led to the birth of hundreds of babies as the practice of embryo adoption and donation remains a contentious issue, even among Christians.
According to the Snowflakes embryo adoption program, a division of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, there are over 1 million embryos frozen in storage throughout the United States. The program works with fertility clinics throughout the U.S. to help people place remaining embryos with a family looking to adopt.
Nearly 2,000 people have donated their embryos through Snowflakes, and over 950 babies have been born to adoptive parents, according to the program’s website.
Nightlight Christian Adoption, which has offices in 10 states, launched Snowflakes and pioneered the embryo adoption program in 1997. The organization is the “oldest and most experienced embryo adoption agency in the world.” Through the Council on Accreditation, Nightlight became the only accredited embryo adoption agency in December 2021.
5. Presbyterian Church USA Officially Labels Israel an ‘Apartheid’ State in ‘Insult to Jews and Christians’
From CBN:
The governing body of the Presbyterian Church USA on Friday recognized that the laws, policies, and practices of the government of Israel concerning the Palestinian people, “fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid.”
The resolution passed in a 266-116 vote during the church’s biannual General Assembly (GA), which took place in Louisville, Kentucky and online.
The decision was met with criticism by numerous Christian groups.
6. How Some School Administrators are Intentionally Keeping Life-Altering Secrets from Parents About Their Children
From the Daily Citizen:
The helpful secular organization Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) is a collective recounting the various ways parents are being lied to by various authorities manipulating their children with gender ideology. Since these are parents who care deeply for their children, they speak with a very impassioned voice. They are done being nice. They are furious, and with good reason.
In a new post entitled “Dear Administrator,” PITT tells the story of a parent, a regular volunteer at her daughter’s school, who has been flat out lied to by a school administrator about the child’s “gender transition.” This mother writes,
“Last night, we sat across from each other at a dinner given to volunteers of my daughter’s school. You are always so pleasant and affable and I know you are very hard working. I had (note the past tense) a lot of respect for you – until last night.” (emphasis in original)
7. Bikinis, Boys and One Father’s Challenge to Champion Modesty
From the Daily Citizen:
I’m not qualified to prescribe specifics regarding a more modest bathing suit for ladies. What’s that old line – “Raise your hands & touch your toes. If anything shows, go change your clothes”? But as a father who’s trying to instill in his sons a respect for women, and not raise sons who reduce or objectify them to mere sexual entities, I can tell you that what’s becoming more common is not good or helpful – for anybody.
“We would never want our boys watching television shows featuring women wearing what many of them wear at the pool,” Julie told me the other day. She’s right. It’s a curious thing, isn’t it? Context certainly matters. Few people would stand in their underwear and talk to a stranger on their porch – but many of those same folks seem to have little issue wearing the equivalent and chatting by the water’s edge.
We live in a strange age that, on one hand, we’re both glad and relieved our children are attracted to people of the opposite sex – but that doesn’t mean gawking is ever a good thing.
The apostle Paul was obviously dealing with versions of this challenge when he wrote, “I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God” (1 Timothy 2:9-10).
It might come across as sexist for a man to counsel a woman on how to dress, but modesty is always a good policy. Resist the urge to go along with styles that reveal what should be reserved for your spouse. Consider, too, that children are hopefully developing a sense of healthy sexuality and seeing too much, is, well, too much.
Finally, we need to discard any notion that modesty is somehow antithetical to beauty and attractiveness. In fact, true beauty is modesty in its highest form – classy, elegant, and refined.
8. I talked to 70 parents who raised highly successful adults—here are 4 things they never did when their kids were young
From CNBC:
As parents, we hear a lot about the things we should do with our kids. But it’s also important to flip that around and consider what we shouldn’t do.
As I researched and wrote my book, “Raising an Entrepreneur,” I interviewed 70 parents who raised highly successful adults about how they helped their children achieve their dreams.
Despite the diverse ethnic, socioeconomic and religious backgrounds, there were four things that the parents of these smart, driven and entrepreneurial individuals never did when their kids were young:
- They never treated their kid’s hobby as a waste of time.
- They never made all the choices for their kids.
- They never prized money or high-paying degrees over happiness.
- They never neglected financial literacy.
9. State lotteries transfer wealth out of needy communities
From the Associated Press:
While the growing expansion of casinos and state-sanctioned sports betting steal the spotlight, state lotteries have nearly doubled in size over the past two decades, driving a multibillion-dollar wealth transfer from low-income U.S. communities to powerful multinational companies.
A nationwide investigation of state lotteries by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland found that lottery retailers are disproportionately clustered in lower-income communities in nearly every state. The investigation’s analysis of cellphone location data shows that the people who patronize those stores come from the same kinds of communities.
Once rare, lotteries now operate in all but five U.S. states. Driven by more than a half-billion dollars in annual ad spending, lottery ticket sales have grown from $47 billion to $82 billion since 2005, according to La Fleur’s 2022 World Lottery Almanac. In 10 states, lotteries generate more revenue than corporate income taxes.
The investigation also found that a key promise of lotteries across the country – that they support education – doesn’t hold up. Instead, lotteries often compound inequities by disproportionately benefiting college students and wealthier school districts far from the neighborhoods where most tickets are sold.
10. Family Buys Lake Cabin So They Can Spend Their Vacations Fixing Things Too
From the Babylon Bee:
After years of relaxing travel, the McWilliams family took the leap and purchased a lake cabin so they can finally spend their entire vacation fixing things.
“We got sick of the carefree vibe you get on vacation, plus all the swimming and hiking,” said a proud Jim McWilliams. “We just closed on the cabin yesterday, and the back door screen broke within five minutes – so our investment is already paying off!”
According to sources, the kids made it ten whole minutes in the lake before Jim’s wife Judy put them to work. “We have a whole week to teach the kids how to sand and paint, starting with the deck,” said Judy as she added ‘paint deck’ to the kids’ list of ‘lake house chores’ for the day. “Look at this amazing view we get to enjoy while working. These kids have no idea how blessed they are!”
Vacation rental property owners are having a hard time competing with the lure of home repair while on vacation. “We are really limited in the experience we can offer vacationers,” said Bob Lake, CEO of Lake Resort Rentals. “Our cabins are in good shape, they’re clean, and the beds are made when people check in. You might get a burned out light bulb here and there, but there’s just not much to do. It’s not for everyone.”
