Daily Headlines | Tuesday October 5, 2021

Good Morning!   

For decades, liberals have advanced a lie that abortion is “health care” – a delusionary assertion that belies common sense and allows wickedness to be falsely framed as an enhancement of a woman’s well-being. 

Writing in The Brothers Karamazov, Fydor Dostoevsky warned: 

“Above all, don’t lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”

We begin with a decision based on a lie: 

1. Biden Admin Revokes Ban on Abortion Referrals from Federally Funded Clinics

From National Review: 

The Biden administration has revoked a rule that barred health-care clinics that receive federal funding from providing referrals for abortions. 

The Trump administration had previously barred federally funded clinics that provide family-planning services under the Title X program from issuing abortion referrals. The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday that it is reversing the Trump administration’s rule. 

“This rule is a step forward for family planning care as it aims to strengthen and restore our nation’s Title X program,” HHS secretary Xavier Becerra said in a press release. “Our nation’s family planning clinics play a critical role in delivering health care, and today more than ever, we are making clear that access to quality family planning care includes accurate information and referrals—based on a patient’s needs and direction.” 

The new rule will go into effect on November 8, according to the release. 

2. Leader of House Progressives Says She Won’t Vote for Reconciliation Bill if It Includes Hyde Amendment

From National Review: 

Representative Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), chair of the progressive caucus, said Sunday that she will not support Democrats’ massive social-spending package if it includes the Hyde Amendment, a stipulation that prohibits taxpayer money from funding abortions. 

Jayapal’s comments came during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union days after Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) told National Review that the bill would be “dead on arrival” if the Hyde Amendment were not included. 

“Yeah, we’re not taking the Hyde Amendment off. Hyde’s going to be on,” he said Wednesday. 

3. The Therapeutic Evangelism of Jordan Peterson 

From Public Discourse: 

Peterson helped spark a spiritual and intellectual transformation in me that led me to the Church. Remarkably, I’m not the only one. Even though he isn’t a Christian himself, Peterson is arguably the most successful evangelist of his day. 

The phenomenon of Peterson is the subject of Christopher Kaczor and Matthew R. Petrusek’s new book, Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity, where they set out to provide the first critical examination of Peterson’s Bible lecture series and Rules for Life books. They deftly show the richness of Peterson’s approach to the Bible and to God, and how it fits and finds support within Christianity. 

Peterson’s project is not, at root, about biblical interpretation, metaphysics, theology, or even free speech. It is therapy for people bereft of meaning and purpose. We all started listening to Peterson for different reasons, but inadvertently found ourselves in an existential therapy session. Peterson helps his listeners understand how the dysfunctional and harmful ideologies of the world affect their behavior and present obstacles to living lives of meaning. And, importantly, the treatment Peterson prescribes—for religious and non-religious alike—is to live according to the values and wisdom handed down by Christianity. 

4. When gambling—excuse me, “gaming”—was normalized, we lost a vital moral dimension to our ideas of political economy 

From the American Conservative: 

Keeping gambling illegal was once a pillar of social conservatism, up there with abortion and school prayer. Any time a Southern governor proposed getting a state lottery, the Christian right would leap into action. That began to change in the 1990s, when Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich became the first national politicians to tap casino owners for large donations.  

Today, another industry has arisen that seems able to mint money by playing on addictive behavior: Big Tech. The tools it uses to manipulate our brains are often the very same ones casinos use, flashing lights and dopamine hits spaced out at optimized intervals. Has our moral response to Big Tech been handicapped by the fact that its closest analogue recently became respectable overnight? Might the values we abandoned be ones we once again find ourselves needing? 

In their book How the South Joined the Gambling Nation (2007), political scientists Michael Nelson and John Lyman Mason observe that successful campaigns to legalize gambling since 1990 have tended to focus on two main rhetorical themes: that citizens are going to gamble one way or another so it’s better to claim the economic benefits for your own state rather than let them flow to the state (or Indian tribe) next door; and that the taxes can fund worthy causes like education. It is not surprising that gambling proponents prefer to shift the debate away from moral grounds and make their case in terms of dollars and cents. What is more surprising is that gambling opponents have met them there. 

The moral wisdom of keeping casino gambling isolated in a single city in the desert used to be self-evident. Gambling was a vice that bore the same relation to genuine economic activity as drugs to food, a mere simulacrum with the added side effect of eroding personal character. It could be tolerated but not encouraged. By the time it became necessary to muster actual arguments against the spread of gambling in the 1990s, social science had supplanted morality in the public sphere. Lobbyists against gambling were reduced to citing studies showing increased bankruptcy rates and drunk driving arrests in casino-adjacent counties and other such statistical trends, which did not quite capture the full heft of the moral arguments they replaced. 

5. CDC renews recommendation for virtual holiday celebrations
   

From Fox News: 

As the U.S. enters the colder holiday seasons amid the coronavirus pandemic, updated federal health guidance is encouraging virtual celebrations and outdoor gatherings to reduce the spread of COVID-19. 

“Attending gatherings to celebrate events and holidays increases your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19,” the latest guidance reads. “The safest way to celebrate is virtually, with people who live with you, or outside and at least 6 feet apart from others.”   

The health agency advised celebrating over video chats with family and friends, watching virtual events and driving around the community to wave at neighbors from a safe distance.  

RELATED: 

Francis Collins to step down as NIH director (Politico)

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins plans to announce his resignation on Tuesday after nearly three decades at the agency, including 12 years at the helm, three sources tell POLITICO. 

The 71-year-old physician-geneticist led the agency under three consecutive presidents — making him the first presidentially appointed NIH director to serve in more than one administration and the longest-serving NIH director. 

6. New Film ‘God’s Not Dead: We The People’ in Theaters October 4-6

From The Daily Citizen: 

It can be an immense challenge for parents to find safe, family-friendly entertainment for their children to view. One such movie that parents won’t have to worry about is God’s Not Dead: We The People. 

In 2014, God’s Not Dead took theaters by storm. Produced on a shoestring $2 million budget, the movie raked in $64.7 million at the box office worldwide. The film’s two sequels, God’s Not Dead 2 and God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, released in 2016 and 2018 respectively, brought the franchise up to $96.6 million in revenue. 

Now, God’s Not Dead: We The People is currently playing in theaters across the country during a three night Fathom Event on October 4, 5 and 6. 

7. Ron DeSantis’s wife diagnosed with breast cancer: ‘She will never, never, never give up’

From The Washington Examiner:   

Florida’s first lady is battling breast cancer in the “most difficult test of her life,” Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Monday. 

Casey DeSantis is the mother of three children. She married DeSantis in 2010. 

The governor called his wife the “centerpiece” of their family and noted the impact she has made on “countless Floridians.” 

“As she faces the most difficult test of her life, she will have not only have my unwavering support but the support of our entire family, as well as the prayers and well wishes from Floridians across our state,” he continued. “Casey is a true fighter, and she will never, never, never give up.” 

As Florida’s first lady, Casey DeSantis, 41, has led multiple initiatives, including “Hope Florida — A Pathway to Prosperity, Economic Self-Sufficiency and Hope,” according to Fox News. She is a former television host. 

8. Sibling bullying linked to poor mental health years later

From Study Finds: 

Most people who grew up with brothers or sisters knows sibling relationships aren’t always picture perfect. A sibling can be your best friend one minute, and your worst enemy the next. Now, however, researchers from the University of York find that children who consistently bully a sibling at a young age can push their brother or sister towards a greater risk of mental health and overall well-being issues later on in adolescence. 

Study authors looked at data on over 17,000 people during this project. The team concludes that as sibling-bullying frequency increases during early-to-middle adolescence, so does the severity of mental health issues in that child’s late teenage years. 

Notably, the research also indicates bullying during early adolescence, for both the victim and perpetrator, has a long-term effect on positive and negative mental health as they grow up. It’s worth mentioning that many sibling-bullying relationships can switch back and forth, with one sibling taking on the role of bully one day and then being on the receiving end the next. 

9. I miss Rush Limbaugh

From the Washington Times (Paul Batura): 

It was the late evangelist Dr. Billy Graham who famously observed, “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened.” 

One of the reasons we enjoyed listening so often was because Rush gave many of us the courage to stick to our convictions, despite the unrelenting drumbeat of mainstream opinion celebrating the exact opposite. We weren’t crazy for believing what we did. Hearing Rush was the equivalent of C.S. Lewis’ description of friendship, that a special bond forms “at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’” 

Pastor John Donne was right when he said death diminishes all of us. It makes us poorer, robbing us of insight and wisdom unique to the person we lose. Limbaugh and Harvey’s words triggered many thoughts I may not have otherwise had – and now may never have with them gone. 

Radio is such an intimate medium, populated by men and women talking to potentially millions – but really only talking to us, one on one. Good hosts don’t envision masses – they think of the man or woman behind the wheel or on the run with earbuds. That’s why the loss of a radio legend is felt in a unique and profound way to their legions of fans. 

Rush’s final words on that last program were, “We’ll be back soon” – a broadcast bromide we’ve heard countless times and one that an ailing Rush seemingly didn’t live up to, dying 15 days later. 

Yet, maybe Rush wasn’t referring to returning soon to his perch behind the “Golden EIB” microphone. Instead, maybe he was alluding to his Christian belief that life is a vapor that vanishes quickly and that we’ll all be back together again on the other side, and maybe even sooner than we think. 

10. West Virginia couple recreates wedding day to celebrate 75 years of marriage

From ABC News: 

A West Virginia couple who have been married for 75 years relived one of the most beautiful moments in their lives this weekend: their wedding day.

In front of five generations of the family the two created, Ulysses and Lorraine Dawson recreated their wedding day. 

“I thank God for him,” said Lorraine of her husband. “I could never find a better one.”

During Saturday’s ceremony, Ulysses wore his uniform from when he served in World War II. It was the same one he was wearing for the couple’s wedding in 1946.

“That’s the way we met each other,” said Lorraine. “He was in uniform.”

She said though their marriage had its ups and downs, the two have persevered with compromise, love and faith.

“Our prayers were answered, and I thank God for it all,” said Ulysses. “The knot was tied awful tight, and it’s still holding.” 

So what’s the key to a long-lasting marriage, according to the Dawsons? It’s a multitude of things, but the key is always love.

“Be sure you love each other,” said Lorraine. “It’s a 50/50 thing, not an 80/20. It’s 50/50.”