Distinction Matter - Subscribed Feeds

  1. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Hua Bin
    Ukraine launched a surprise attack on multiple Russian airfields on June 1, destroying much of Russia’s strategic nuclear bomber force. With that attack, the 2024 mystery of unidentified drone incursions over US military airports such as Langley Air Force Base could potentially be considered as solved. One can validly reason these drone incursions were rehearsals...
  2. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Hua Bin
    Last December, on Chairman Mao’s 131st birthday, China flew two new 6th generation fighter prototypes for the first time – the Chengdu J-36 and the Shenyang J-50. Earlier this year, Trump announced the US has awarded Boeing to build its own 6th gen fighter called F-47. The competition to build and field the most advanced...
  3. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Paul Craig Roberts
    Do many Americans understand that it is not only the US federal civil service that works against American citizens in behalf of DEI policies and a Woke agenda? It is also state and local bureaucrats, and perhaps as well your child’s doctor and school teacher. Rights have been taken away from parents and American citizens...
  4. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Hua Bin
    In the earlier article, I discussed how China is building a Kill Web to deter any foreign intervention in a conflict near its shores around Taiwan, the South China Sea, or the East China Sea. This Kill Web features a multi-layered, redundant, and networked arsenal to achieve mission objectives, particularly in China’s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD)...
  5. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Robert Inlakesh
    Israeli officials often claim that Hamas has been looting aid heading to Gaza, yet the evidence suggests the opposite. New reports and eyewitness accounts indicate that Israel is backing ISIS-linked militants who are working to replace Hamas security forces and are looting humanitarian aid under the watchful eye of IDF drones. New evidence recently emerged...
  6. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Hua Bin
    In 2020, Christian Brose wrote a book titled “The Kill Chain”, in which he discussed the coming US China military conflict. Brose was the principal advisor to Senator John McCain on national security and military issues and his staff director when McCain was the chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee. In the book,...
  7. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Eugene Kusmiak
    China used to be the most populous country in the world. But because of its extremely low birthrate, deaths now outnumber births there and the country is shrinking. This essay will recount some of the alarming facts about China’s population implosion. It’s much worse than most people think.   I rely on two government statistics...
  8. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Jared Taylor
    The philosopher of the Great Replacement. Reynaud Camus talks to Jared Taylor about the Great Replacement, Mr. Camus‘s recently published anthology Enemy of the Disaster, the degeneration of French culture, and the “deculturizing” influence of the United States on the Western world. This video is available on Rumble, Bitchute, Odysee, and X.
  9. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Richard Parker
    Stigma, Shame, and Other Negative Sanctions are Vital To Stopping the Transgender Menace The above image features an image of St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Oregon, featured in the last tweet posted by Fosgate’s “charlotteburntfishie” account. Author’s Note: the nature of this essay, a time sensitive “news” story, is particularly subject to revision and expansion....
  10. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Pepe Escobar
    This was the mood in informed Moscow – only a few hours before the renewed Istanbul kabuki on Russia-Ukraine “negotiations”. Three key points. The attack on Russian strategic bombers – part of the nuclear triad – was a US-UK joint operation. Especially MI6. The overall tech investment and strategy was provided by this intel combo....
  11. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Paul Craig Roberts
    James O’Keefe founded Project Veritas. O’Keefe was highly successful in getting on camera admissions by government officials at all levels of how they ignored law, violated law, and issued regulations in order to impose DEI Woke policies on a citizenry that rejected the policies. Apparently, O’Keefe was so successful that it seems the ruling establishment...
  12. Site: The Unz Review
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Jonathan Cook
    Israel has been caught once again in a lie. For a genocidal state, there are no red lines. No one should be surprised that Israel is using its bogus ‘aid system’ to lure Palestinians into a death trap It is entirely unsurprising that Israel has yet again been caught out in a lie – a...
  13. Site: AntiWar.com
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: James Carden
    Reprinted with permission from The Realist Review. The discursive rhetoric President Trump deploys when speaking about Russia and its apex-leader, Mr. Putin, risks lending the impression that once the unfortunate business of the war wraps up, he and Mr. Putin will at last be free to guide US-Russian relations to unimaginable levels of peace, prosperity … Continue reading "Toward a Policy of Restrained Pessimism"
  14. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Is Birthright Citizenship A National Suicide Pact?

    Authored by Frank Miele via RealClearPolitics,

    On the day of his second inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.”

    Sounds innocent enough, right? But this is the infamous order declaring that birthright citizenship does not extend to children of parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily.

    Not so fast,” said attorneys for illegal aliens and their children. “Our clients snuck across the border fair and square and they want the prize promised them by the Constitution – U.S. citizenship for all children born after they crossed the border.”

    But is that really what the Constitution says? Here are the words from the 14th Amendment:

    All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

    As President Trump noted in his executive order, the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” have always been used to exclude certain classes of people from birthright citizenship. That included, for instance, children of diplomats, who enjoy immunity in their host country. For several decades, it also included Native Americans of certain tribes that had entered into treaties that provided at least partial sovereignty. Those exclusions are not in the Constitution, but they are in the law. So why can’t there be an exclusion for illegal immigrants?

    Trump’s executive order correctly recognizes that the higher purpose of the 14th Amendment was to guarantee citizenship for the children of former slaves, who had not only been subject to the jurisdiction of the American government, but even subject to sale. They had earned citizenship through hardship, pain, and suffering – not through an accident of birth. Obviously, the authors of the amendment recognized the high value of citizenship, and it seems unlikely they would just hand it out willy-nilly.

    Which brings us back to “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Were citizenship to be granted simply on the basis of where you were born, that phrase would not have been necessary. Yet there it is. As a matter of law, there is no formal, writ-in-stone definition of what “subject to jurisdiction” means. And that’s what the Trump administration hopes will provide enough ambiguity that the Supreme Court will agree that the president has the authority to declare under his executive powers that the children of illegal immigrants should not be considered birthright citizens because they fail the jurisdiction test.

    Three district court judges have already ruled against Trump and issued “temporary nationwide injunctions” to prevent the executive order from being carried out. On May 15, the Supreme Court heard the case, partly to resolve whether district courts should have the authority to apply their rulings nationwide and, ultimately, to make its own determination on the legality of the executive order.

    But even if the high court should reject presidential authority to interpret the Constitution, the argument does not end there. Section 5 of the 14th Amendment provides that “Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” In other words, the rare trifecta of a Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican president offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance for Congress to establish once and for all that U.S. citizenship does not hinge on the ability of one’s parents to sneak past the Border Patrol before you are born.

    Unfortunately, the Senate’s current filibuster rules would not allow for a simple majority to define “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in such a way that it excludes the children of illegal immigrants. But since senators in recent years have allowed filibuster exemptions for confirmation of presidential nominations and for votes on budget “reconciliation” bills, there is no reason why some smart parliamentarian could not carve out a new exception narrowly tailored to allow a simple majority to define citizenship.

    If that seems like using brute force to impose a nation-changing mandate upon the American people, so be it. As Justice Arthur Goldberg wrote in 1963, the Constitution is “not a suicide pact.” Yet allowing the children of well over 20 million illegal immigrants to become citizens of a country whose customs they ignore, whose language they often don’t understand or choose to learn, and whose laws their parents broke even before they were born, is an invitation to chaos and collapse.

    If that’s not a national suicide pact, I don’t know what is.

    Frank Miele, retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont., is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. His book “The Media Matrix: What If Everything You Know Is Fake” is available from his Amazon author page. Visit him at HeartlandDiaryUSA.com or follow him on Facebook @HeartlandDiaryUSA and on X/Gettr @HeartlandDiary.

    Tyler Durden Mon, 06/02/2025 - 23:25
  15. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Is There A New England Serial Killer? Social Media Says Maybe, Police Say No.

    Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    NEW ENGLAND—On the eve of Easter Sunday, detectives in Narragansett, Rhode Island, were busy investigating crimes when messages began to pour in.

    It came from everywhere,” Detective Sgt. Brent Kuzman said, referring to the flurry of emails and phone calls to dispatch that pointed to an anonymous Facebook post on a group called New England SK (the SK referring to serial killer).

    While the identity of the person behind the post was unavailable publicly, the post itself suggested the possibility of six bodies buried at Black Point near Scarborough Beach, each positioned vertically and facing the ocean.

    And despite the post also stating it was a piece of fiction, Kuzman believed the message contained enough credibility to prompt further investigation.

    That same day, on April 19, four detectives from the Narragansett PD and two Rhode Island State Police cadaver dog teams began searching along woodland trails and the Scarborough beachfront. The department also contacted the FBI.

    The search lasted for 20 hours and yielded nothing.

    We used our whole detective division over two days,” Kuzman told The Epoch Times. “We had to put off every other case. The area we looked at was an extensive amount of land.”

    Kuzman said the investigation concluded the post was a “100 percent” hoax, adding that the creator of the post has since deleted the message, canceled the account, and remains unidentified. The police declined to provide a screenshot of the post to The Epoch Times.

    This, however, is just one chapter in a story of murder, conspiracy, and hoaxes revolving around a supposed serial killer, and all being played out on social media.

    On the Side of Caution

    Social media had been buzzing for months following the discovery of 13 bodies and skeletal remains in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island between March and April.

    Most of the remains found were female, including two who had been reported missing in 2024.

    In Massachusetts, three cases were identified as homicides, which led to two separate arrests on murder charges. Other causes of death are still undetermined or involve circumstances that police are unable to disclose.

    Two cases involve incomplete sets of human remains.

    The location near a bike path where police found the body of Meggan Meredith in Springfield, Mass., on May 8, 2025. She was pronounced dead shortly after 8 a.m. on April 22. Authorities have ruled her death a homicide. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

    On March 27, a hunter searching for deer antlers found a portion of a human skull in Plymouth, Massachusetts, according to Boston25 News. Police closed off the area as part of the ongoing investigation.

    The department released a statement the next day, stating there was “no threat to public safety.”

    On May 4, police reported the discovery of a possible human leg bone near the home of pop singer Taylor Swift in an upscale area of Westerly, Rhode Island. The remains have not been identified.

    The Epoch Times contacted the Westerly police for a comment.

    Linking Cases

    The chatter and differing opinions on social media about a possible serial killer have continued with each grisly discovery.

    “LE [law enforcement] still saying it is not a SK [serial killer]. I think now is when they should be most concerned. This ‘killer(s)’ is getting more brazen. They are calling out for recognition,” read one Facebook post.

    Another Facebook post read: “I can understand not wanting to jump to conclusions or cause a panic, but why does it always seem like the police are just dead set against even considering the possibility of a serial killer?”

    A May 1 post states: “While some of the people found have indeed been victims of foul play, there are others who seem more like a victim of their own demons.”

    Kuzman believes there is no evidence linking all the cases, and that social media users have been selectively focusing on certain cases to support a serial killer narrative.

    “I feel like the whole movement behind this is cherry-picking—like they have a conclusion—and they’re trying to justify whatever data they have of there being a serial killer,” he said.

    “There’s been nothing [from law enforcement] about a potential suspect in a serial killing in this region at all,” he said.

    But the story has developed a “life of its own.”

    On April 24, Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni issued a statement addressing growing concerns after police found a woman unresponsive on a bike path near the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

    Meggan Meredith, 45, was pronounced dead shortly after 8 a.m. on April 22. Authorities have classified her death as a homicide.

    “We understand the unease that comes with such acts of violence,” Gulluni said, “and we want the community to know that each of these cases is being thoroughly investigated in close coordination with our law enforcement partners.”

    The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, near the bike path where Meggan Meredith was found unresponsive on April 22, in Springfield, Mass., on May 8, 2025. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

    He advised people to exercise caution when sharing social media posts that aim to spread fear and misinformation.

    “Unverified claims can compromise active investigations and contribute to a sense of chaos that does not reflect the full picture,” Gulluni said.

    Serial Killers Everywhere

    Multiple law enforcement agencies across the country have expressed similar concerns about social media posts claiming that serial killers are active throughout the United States.

    Law enforcement classifies a serial killer as someone who murders two or more individuals in separate incidents. Usually, it’s for psychological pleasure, thrill-seeking, attention, or financial gain.

    On Dec. 5, 2024, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department addressed social media claims about a serial killer targeting individuals as part of a nationwide “scam.”

    Please be assured that we would inform you immediately of any potential threat to your safety or the safety of our community. Your safety is our greatest priority,” the department posted on Facebook.

    On Dec. 9, 2024, police in Odessa, Texas, posted a similar warning on Facebook about a possible serial killer “knocking on doors in Odessa.”

    “These posts are intended to cause unwarranted public harm and have been determined to be false,” the post added.

    The Eastland Police Department in Texas also addressed allegations of a serial killer, determining them to be false.

    “Please be assured that there is no credible threat to our community. Similar posts have appeared in various regions and are designed to create panic and fear,” the department wrote on its Facebook page.

    We urge everyone to verify information through your local law enforcement departments before sharing.”

    On Jan. 31, police in Camden, South Carolina, warned residents about a scam circulating on social media that falsely claimed serial killers were targeting several states.

    The posts included random names and mugshots to lend credibility to the misinformation.

    “Once the post goes viral, they edit the content to promote scams (fake rental listings, phishing links). Do not share or engage these posts,” the notice added.

    “Stay informed and always verify information from trusted sources.”

    Serial killings make up less than 1 percent of all homicides, according to the World Population Review.

    Since the 1990s, the rate of serial killings has declined, with California having the highest number of known victims at 1,777 between 1992 and 2019. Texas had the second highest number of victims with 984, followed by Florida with 933, Illinois and New York round out the top five.

    Flowers are placed on the Odessa Police Department sign following a deadly shooting spree in Odessa, Texas, on Sept. 1, 2019. Cengiz Yar/Getty Images

    Trolling Law Enforcement

    Spreading or discussing false information or rumors on social media is generally not considered a crime under federal law. However, it can lead to legal consequences if done with malicious intent or if it causes harm.

    Under Title 18 U.S. Code 1038, known as the false information and hoaxes law, it is a federal offense to engage in any conduct intended to convey false or misleading statements about a major crisis to incite fear and panic.

    Kuzman noted that the Facebook post mentioning a gravesite in Narragansett seemed intended to provoke reactions from social media users. Nonetheless, investigators determined it did not constitute a crime.

    Read the rest of the report here...

    Tyler Durden Mon, 06/02/2025 - 22:35
  16. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Global Tobacco Use Is Steadily Declining

    More than 60 years ago, on January 11, 1964, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, Luther L. Terry, M.D., published the first comprehensive report on the effects of smoking on health.

    A committee was appointed to review and evaluate existing research on the topic in order to “reach some definitive conclusions on the relationship between smoking and health in general.”

    And, as Statista's Felix Richter reports, while it may seem absurd from today’s point of view that the adverse effects of smoking were ever in doubt, 60 years ago the “tobacco-health controversy” was exactly that: a controversy.

    After consulting more than 7,000 articles about the relationship between smoking and disease, the committee did come to a definite conclusion, however, making its report “Smoking and Health” a landmark study in the fight against smoking.

    On the basis of prolonged study and evaluation of many lines of converging evidence, the Committee makes the following judgement: Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action.

     (Smoking and Health, 1964)

    The report found that smoking is a cause of lung cancer and laryngeal cancer in men, a probable cause of lung cancer in women, the most important cause of chronic bronchitis and a contributing factor to cardiovascular diseases, resulting in a higher death rate from coronary artery disease among male cigarette smokers. After its release, it dominated newspaper headlines for days and was later ranked among the top news stories of 1964.

    And while some tobacco control measures, such as warning labels on cigarette packs, were implemented promptly, cigarette sales in the U.S. continued to rise until the early 1980s, which is when they peaked at more than 630 billion cigarettes per year.

     Has Smoking Lost Its Cool? | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    Over the past four decades, measures to discourage smoking and protect the public from second-hand smoke have become more and more strict and wide-ranging, resulting in falling tobacco use prevalence in the United States and large parts of the world. Looking at the U.S., the CDC considers the antismoking campaign a “public health success with few parallels in history”, as it achieved its goal despite “the addictive nature of tobacco and the powerful economic forces promoting its use.”

     Global Tobacco Use Is Steadily Declining | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    According to WHO estimates, 21.7 percent of all people aged 15 and older used tobacco in 2020, down from 32.7 percent at the turn of the millennium. As the cvhart above nicely illustrates, the tobacco use rate is highest among 45- to 54-year-olds at 27.5 percent, while it’s just 13.8 percent among 15- to 24-year-olds and 13.5 percent among those aged 85 and older.

    Tyler Durden Mon, 06/02/2025 - 22:10
  17. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    With Centuries-Old Ohio Paper Mill Set To Close, Locals Hope For A Miracle

    Authored by Jeff Louderback via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    Judy Sowers is the matriarch of a family that has seen generations work at “the Mead,” which is what the paper mill in Chillicothe is known as by many locals.

    On May 8, Sowers gathered around a kitchen table with two of her daughters, her brother, and her son-in-law in a house across the street from the mill and its red-and-white striped tower.

    Their conversation was on a topic that is on the minds of residents, business owners, and local officials in this community of 21,895 in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio.

    Pixelle Specialty Solutions—and its parent, private equity firm H.I.G. Capital—announced on April 15 that it would be shutting down its paper mill in Chillicothe.

    The company said the closure was necessary as part of its effort to “align its operation footprint with long-term business objectives.”

    Jobs are on the line for around 830 workers. The company originally intended to shut down the mill in phases over the weeks that followed the announcement.

    The decision was delayed after freshman Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) secured a commitment from H.I.G. Capital, which bought the mill in 2022, to pause the facility’s closure until the end of the year.

    Chillicothe is known as the “Paper City.” The mill was opened in 1812.

    Sowers’s grandparents worked at the Mead. So did John Angus Sr., Sowers’s father. Several other family members have spent their careers at the mill.

    If you didn’t work there, you had family work there, or you knew someone who worked there. Kids grow up hearing stories from generations of family members about working at the mill,” Sowers, 74, said.

    John Angus Jr., Sowers’s brother, recalled his 42-year career that stretched from his early 20s to retirement age.

    “It took me five years to get on there after I graduated from high school. At the time, it was a job many people wanted to have if they wanted to stay here,” John Angus Jr. told The Epoch Times.

    “I worked shift work for almost 43 years, so I missed a lot of stuff with the family, but it put bread and butter on the table. It would be a shame to see it close.”

    Chillicothe became the first capital of the Northwest Territory in 1800 and Ohio’s first capital in 1803.

    Chillicothe’s downtown has been revitalized over the past decade and serves as the centerpiece of the city, featuring an ambience reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting.

    Downtown Chillicothe, Ohio, on May 8, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

    Restaurants, antique shops, coffeehouses, taverns, and Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop occupy historic buildings reflecting an architecture from a bygone era.

    With its downtown and attractions such as the amphitheater, where an outdoor drama about Shawnee Indian Chief Tecumseh still plays every summer, Chillicothe draws outside visitors.

    Most of the businesses rely on local traffic, though, provided by major employers such as Adena Regional Medical Center, two state prisons, a VA Medical Center, a Kenworth semi-truck manufacturing plant, and the mill.

    Trent Fannin and his wife opened Rost Coffee in downtown Chillicothe in 2016. The shop buzzes with traffic from mill workers, employees from downtown businesses, and high school and college students.

    “Downtown Chillicothe has a lively pulse that downtowns in most towns across southern Ohio don’t have. It’s a destination, and hopefully, we don’t find out the impact of losing the mill. We’re concerned, but hopeful,” Fannin said.

    Residents and local and state legislators are hopeful that Pixelle finds a way to keep the mill open long term or sell it to a company committed to making a long-term commitment to Chillicothe.

    It was purchased by Col. Daniel Mead of Dayton, around 75 miles northwest of Chillicothe, in 1890. The Mead was one of the largest paper manufacturers in the country for more than 100 years.

    In 2002, the Mead merged with Westvaco in a $3 billion stock transaction.

    The headquarters of MeadWestvaco was relocated from Dayton to Connecticut, and then to Richmond, Virginia.

    After learning about the plan to shutter the mill, Moreno wrote a letter to H.I.G. CEO Sami Mnaymneh, charging the executive with “selfish business decisions and corporate greed.”

    “H.I.G. Capital is an investment firm with $69 billion of equity capital under management, riddled with Wall Street executives, including Mr. Mnaymneh, a billionaire five times over and one of the wealthiest people in the world,” Moreno wrote.

    The firm’s business model is “to suck the proverbial blood out of companies it acquires until the companies declare bankruptcy, leaving the employees and communities it decimates behind,” Moreno said, pointing to the outcomes of some of the other transactions the private equity firm has made.

    Read the rest here...

    Tyler Durden Mon, 06/02/2025 - 21:45
  18. Site: 4Christum
    1 week 2 days ago


    Marxist Boff: “Francis is One of Us”



    The Franciscan friars presented the 2025 Laudato si' Award

    May 31, 2025 Rome (Italy) (AICA)

    This year's laureates were: the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I; theologian Leonardo Boff; the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (Repam); and the Laudato Si' Movement.



     









     






    Prevost supports Bergoglio's anti-Catholic Pachamama leftist agenda

     





     Boff Rehabilitates Paganism in the Amazonian apostate pseudo-synod



    The Antichrist is described as a "pacifist, ecologist, and ecumenist"






    You have reason to believe that Bergoglio is more liberal?

    Boff: Yes. For example, a few months ago he explicitly permitted a homosexual couple to adopt a child. He kept in touch with priests who were expelled from the official church because they had gotten married. 



  19. Site: 4Christum
    1 week 2 days ago








    According to the apostate anti-Catholic concept of synodality, the hierarchy disappears and is replaced by "the people of God" and the pre-conciliar ecclesiology (Church) is superseded.



    Violating the First Commandment, Bergoglio confirmed members of the Repam (Red Eclesial Panamazónica) and REMAM in their paganism and Apostasy.















     

  20. Site: Public Discourse
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Robert P. George

    Editors’ Note: In recognition of the 100th anniversary of Pierce v. Society of Sisters, this article is published as the second in a three-part series on religious freedom. 

    Should children’s parents or should the government shape the beliefs and values of children? Natural law theorists argue that parents have a responsibility, and therefore possess the prima facie authority, to direct the upbringing and education of their children. This, according to natural law theory, is no mere matter of cultural convention but is an objective moral truth. Children are born to parents—a mother and a father—and are therefore theirs (and, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, in a certain sense a part of them), though not in any sense that would reduce children to the status of their parents’ property. Indeed, parents’ rights to direct the upbringing and education of their children are rooted in their duty to bring up their children properly and educate them well. 

    On this account, government has no free-standing or independent decision-making right or authority with respect to children. Children do not belong to the state in the way they belong to their parents. In extreme circumstances, government may intervene to protect children from parental abuse or neglect, but such interventions are only legitimate where parents actually abuse or neglect their children, forfeiting their rights by defaulting on their responsibilities. 

    Contemporary progressives, by contrast, view the state as having what amounts to a quasi-parental role. It is true that progressives, at least for the most part, do not seek to entirely replace parents with the state—theirs is not, for example, Plato’s famous stipulation in the Republic that children ought to be held “in common” under the state’s supervision and care, such that “neither will a parent know his own offspring, nor a child his parent.” But they do view the state as having a measure of direct authority over children that rivals, and at times may even supersede, the authority of parents. They typically hold that authority over children is shared between the state and the parents. 

    Perhaps the most influential proponent of the progressive position is my friend and former Princeton colleague, Dr. Amy Gutmann. Over the course of a distinguished scholarly career that included nearly two decades as President of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Gutmann has mounted vigorous defenses of the state’s right and duty to shape, even independently of parental wishes, the moral character and fundamental beliefs of children. For the sake of forming adult citizens committed to what she describes as the “secular standards” of modern liberal democracies and who are left “free to choose their own [version of] the good life,” she argues that public schools or other governmental institutions “cannot escape looking after children’s souls in many significant and subtle ways.” Between parents and the state, Gutmann maintains, “we have no a priori reason to favor one paternalistic agent over another.”  

    A more blunt—to put it politely—expression of the progressive view comes from Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Bartholet, who argues that practices such as homeschooling have been abused by parents who are “ideologically committed . . . to isolating their children from the majority culture and indoctrinating them in views and values that are in serious conflict with that culture.” (The subtext, of course, is that such “ideologically committed” parents are those who are committed to living lives and raising families in conformity with traditional religious and moral values.) Criticizing what she identifies as “absolutist” views of parental rights, Bartholet said in a 2020 interview that: 

    Many homeschooling parents are extreme ideologues, committed to raising their children within their belief systems isolated from any societal influence. Some believe that black people are inferior to white people and others that women should be subject to men and not educated for careers but instead raised to serve their fathers first and then their husbands. The danger is both to these children and to society. The children may not have the chance to choose for themselves whether to exit these ideological communities; society may not have the chance to teach them values important to the larger community, such as tolerance of other people’s views and values. 

    In truth, the natural law view of parental rights is far from absolutist—and is neither rooted in nor designed to abet prejudice or bigotry. As I’ve noted, the natural law view’s prima facie parental authority over children’s upbringing and formation is not an exceptionless claim—parental authority can be forfeited and government may, in cases of child abuse or neglect, intervene to protect children from demonstrable harm. In cases of genuine abuse or neglect, such as when parents are harming or abjectly failing to protect their children’s physical health, parental rights can be overridden. The state, acting on its duty to advance and protect the common good, could legitimately step in to remove the child from an objectively harmful or dangerous situation by, for example, temporarily placing the child with a relative or in a foster home until the child’s parents are able (if they indeed become able) to fulfill their parental responsibilities again. 

    Still, under the natural law view, the state plays a purely supportive and subsidiary role in the child’s upbringing, moral formation, and overall well-being. When, in extreme situations, the state justly moves to intervene on behalf of the child, the state’s intervention is still in a sense supplementary to the parents’ fundamental role—never subsuming the parental right, and always moving towards the ultimate goal of restoring the child to his core family unit (though, of course, sometimes this will ultimately be impossible). 

    Furthermore—and contrary to Bartholet’s caricature—the natural law view of parental rights does not promote, endorse, or sanction indoctrination. Parents are charged with the grave responsibility of forming their children, to the best of their ability, to be good people and to lead good lives. 

    Formation includes the inculcation of certain values, to be sure; all parents should teach their children to conduct themselves honorably and with integrity. Indeed, any notion of strictly-neutralist parenting is absurd; when parents, no matter their fundamental commitments, teach their children that stealing is wrong, that they shouldn’t cheat on exams, that they should keep their promises, and that they should sit with the fellow student who always eats lunch alone, they are acting on normative judgments to inculcate the virtues and values their children need in order to lead good lives.  

    But proper formation is not indoctrination. Forming one’s children to be sophists or sycophants, unable to formulate, articulate, and defend their own views in an intellectually robust fashion, is one thing; raising them in accordance with certain religious or moral precepts is something else, and something that all parents inevitably must do. Proper formation encourages the development of an authentic sense of agency and freedom—the freedom to engage in morally worthy choosing—that indoctrination not only fails to impart but actually destroys. 

    The critic would point out the cases, and they will always exist, in which parents fail to raise their children in accordance with sound moral values. Perhaps a parent will teach a child that stealing can be good, that you should only keep your promises if it benefits you to do so, or that you should cheat on exams if it helps you to get ahead. And I have no doubt, as the critic would point out, that there are parents who seek to indoctrinate their children, rather than authentically form them to be independent and critical thinkers. But the truth is that the state must be willing to tolerate some abuses of parental rights lest the efforts to prevent the abuses undermine the rights themselves. 

    The same is true of other rights—for example, the right to freedom of speech. We rightly tolerate abuses of the right to speak freely, lest our efforts to prevent abuses (by licensing government to engage in censorship) undermine the right. Of course, we draw certain lines. For example, we tolerate the abstract advocacy of violence, but we draw the line at deliberately inciting people to imminent violence. (This distinction is expressly drawn by the Supreme Court in the 1969 case of Brandenburg v. Ohio, which remains the leading precedent on the subject.) Similarly, we tolerate a misguided parent’s teaching his child that stealing is good, but we punish the parent who is convicted of sending his child to rob the local convenience store. 

    Parents are charged with the grave responsibility of forming their children, to the best of their ability, to be good people and to lead good lives.

     

    The progressive approach’s concrete implications—and perhaps indicative of the true intentions all along of some of those seeking to curtail parental rights—can be observed in recent efforts by progressive activists to erode parents’ control over children’s education in order to convert their children to social progressivism. Consider, for example, the recently argued US Supreme Court case Mahmoud v. Taylor, in which progressive activists asked the Court to uphold a decision by Montgomery County, Maryland’s public school system banning parents from opting their children out of programs promoting LGBTQ ideology at the pre-K and elementary school level.  

    Montgomery County’s case for subjecting young children to overtly pro-LGBTQ materials hinged fundamentally on this same progressive paternalistic conception of the state’s role in child rearing—the view that the state has an independently-grounded, non-subsidiary role to play in making normative judgments about the sorts of ideas that ought to guide a child’s moral and intellectual upbringing. Defending the policy, the county’s lawyer told the Supreme Court that allowing parents to opt their children out of pro-LGBTQ lessons would risk “exposing students who believe the storybooks represent them and their families to social stigma and isolation.” To be frank, the local government’s argument in Mahmoud was that the state has a legitimate role to play in ideologically influencing the moral formation of children enrolled in public schools, at least in part because not doing so would allegedly have a negative impact on other children whose parents seek to raise them with socially liberal moral commitments. (Of course, they are utterly unconcerned with how students whose families hold traditional values are subjected to “stigma and isolation” when they resist pressure to believe that such values are backward or bigoted.) 

    For the sake of the supposed comfort of their socially progressive peers, the government in Mahmoud claimed an interest in encouraging all students to adopt views normatively favorable to and disposed toward same-sex marriage, transgenderism, sexual liberation, and hotly-contested conceptions of sexuality and gender identity—and claimed that parents had no right to stop their children from being subjected to what truly was indoctrination. It is in cases like Mahmoud that we see the real reason that many progressives are so keen for organs and institutions of the state, at least when they are dominated by ideological allies of social and cultural progressivism, to “share”—and eventually override, as Montgomery County sought to do through banning opt-outs—parental authority with actual parents.  

    The Supreme Court is, I believe, likely to side with the parents in Mahmoud and reaffirm that our Constitution protects not only the free-exercise rights of parents and their children, but also, and relatedly, the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children. This is because the United States has a long tradition of articulating and upholding the natural law account of parental rights within our constitutional order. Indeed, beginning with the landmark case Pierce v. Society of Sisters, whose one-hundredth anniversary we celebrate this year, we can trace in our constitutional order an essentially unbroken line of efforts to uphold the natural law account of parental rights against myriad efforts to undermine it.  

    Pierce concerned a statute enacted by Oregon that sought to compel all children, including those enrolled in what had been state-recognized private schools, to attend public schools. The bill was aggressively promoted by the Ku Klux Klan. Its principal targets were Catholic parochial schools—many supporters of the law, such as Oregon’s Democratic governor Walter Pierce, hoped to see Catholic schools shut down and the children who would have attended those schools, many of them immigrants themselves or from immigrant families, incorporated into the dominant Anglo-Protestant culture through compulsory public education. Writing for a unanimous court, Justice James Clark McReynolds held that the law “unreasonably interfere[d] with the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children,” adding that “The child is not the mere creature of the State.” 

    But as Professor Melissa Moschella, my brilliant former student, has argued, the Pierce ruling and its implications went beyond merely affirming that parents, and not the state, have the right to decide on their children’s education—e.g., about where to send them to school. The Court—in keeping with past common law precedents and lower court findings—also upheld a robust account of fundamental parental rights, concordant with the natural law view, that does not stop at the schoolhouse door.  

    While critics, like University of Connecticut law professor Anne Dailey, have claimed that Pierce is an “ambiguous” ruling, and have (strictly speaking correctly) observed that the proclamation that the child is not the “mere creature of the State” does not mean that the child is the “mere creature of the parents either,” the natural law view of parental rights found in our tradition does not regard children as objects or wholly subservient creatures of anyone—including their parents. While it is true, as I have observed, that under the natural law view of parental rights children do belong to parents in a sense, it is in a very particular and narrowly-tailored sense. Children are neither pieces of parental property nor creatures that possess any less dignity or worth than full-grown adults; rather, they are participants in a unique and timeless person-to-person relationship between themselves and their parents that is replete with duties on the part of parents. And, as I have already noted, proponents of the natural law account freely acknowledge that parental rights are defeasible—not absolute, as someone’s rights might be over a piece of property or some other legitimately instrumentalized object. 

    As Pierce illustrates, the fight to protect and preserve parents’ fundamental rights to direct their children’s education and shape their values is nothing new when it comes to the American story. But, as the case also demonstrates, the natural law-rooted conception of the relationship between child and parent is deeply rooted in our nation’s constitutional self-understanding. It is not a doctrinally sectarian or even an explicitly religious or theistic position. The natural law account of parental rights is a substantively robust and reason-based position—one that must be defended for all Americans of all faiths and shades of belief. As supporters of the natural law account confront the challenges of today—struggles such as that against Montgomery County’s LGBTQ indoctrination efforts—we must be courageous defenders of the truth of parental rights. These are not rights conferred by a merely human authority, and subject to the whims of such an authority. They are, rather, natural rights. 

    Image licensed via Adobe Stock.

  21. Site: Novus Motus Liturgicus
    1 week 2 days ago
    This is the fourth installment of a series on the thirteen papal namesakes of our new Holy Father Leo XIV; click these links to read part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4. The tenth and eleventh Popes to bear the name Leo were both members of the Medici family, the ruling dynasty (at first de facto, later de jure) of Florence. Thanks to the family’s disastrous lack of concern for the Church’s laws Gregory DiPippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13295638279418781125noreply@blogger.com0
  22. Site: non veni pacem
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Mark Docherty

    (h/t Harvey Millican and Supernerd)

    I’m 80 Percent Blind From Glaucoma

    Main fundraiser photo

    Help Me Pay For Home Health Care, Office Work, Transportation (about $1600/mo est.) This applies to the twelve months of 2025; any amounts over the goal will be much appreciated.
    I’m Paul Mann, 76. I’m 80% blind from glaucoma. I’m the creator of the Douay-Rheims website, drbo.org. I’ve asked my friend to create this webpage for me. I went blind in my right eye in 1992 and now glaucoma has destroyed most of my vision in my left eye. My optometrist was negligent for five years. I finally got surgery but the damage from the glaucoma cannot be reversed.

    DONATE HERE

  23. Site: 4Christum
    1 week 2 days ago

     


    Il Tempo: Francis Has Died In Elevator – Gloria TV News


    Luigi Bisignani wrote on IlTempo.it on June 1 that the official version of Francis' death was false.

    Bisignani is a well-known and controversial Italian writer renowned for his insider knowledge of the Vatican. However, he has also been involved in major political scandals, such as the 'P2 Masonic Lodge' affair in 1981 and the 'Enimont Affair' in the 1990s.

    The Vatican provided two different versions of Francis's death. According to the Holy See Press Office, Francis died at 07:35 on 21 April 2025 in his room at Santa Marta.

    However, Bisignani claims that the crisis began before dawn and worsened rapidly and irreversibly. Francis's personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, reportedly tried in vain to take him to Gemelli Hospital. "The Pope must not die," he apparently repeated like a litany.


    According to Bisignani, Francis died without sacraments, in a wheelchair, in the Santa Marta lift between the second floor and the ground floor: "The body, with a wrinkled face and hands, perhaps from pain, was discreetly returned to the papal room. Hands crossed, forehead serene.'

    Regarding the conclave, Bisignani writes that there is a rumour that Prevost had already been elected pope in the morning, but requested a second, more ceremonial, vote in the afternoon. He used the hours to return to Santa Marta and write the 'unarmed and disarming' peace speech for the loggia.

    However, Bisignani himself adds that "only Heaven knows if all this is true": "In the Vatican, as we well know, truth is rarely verifiable. And often, for that very reason, doubt is the only credible thing."




    Father Paul Kramer: according to Vatican Sources Bergoglio refused the Sacraments before dying.

    Lying in State, the Body of Francis Appears to be Turning Dark – Novus Ordo Watch


    Bergoglio, even after his death, drags homosexual transvestites with him to final impenitence instead of leading them to repentance

  24. Site: LifeNews
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Ashley Leenerts

    Texas lawmakers passed bills that will help build a Pro-Life culture, but House leadership ignored the biggest threat to women and babies: abortion pills.

    State officials began the 2025 legislative session in January with a major opportunity to stop the abortion industry. An estimated 30,000 Texan babies are killed each year by out-of-state procedures and abortion drugs, which also endanger mothers.

    Texas Right to Life urged the Legislature to save these children with two Pro-Life Priority Bills:

    1. The Woman and Child Protection Act (SB 2880) to combat abortion pills; and
    2. The Stop Tax-Funded Abortion Travel Act (SB 33) to block cities from sending pregnant women to other states for abortions.

    ❌ Failure to Stop Abortion Pills

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    The Woman and Child Protection Act ranked as the top Pro-Life measure of 2025 and would have cracked down on abortion pills brought to Texas from other states and countries. Whether sold online, shipped in the mail, or trafficked over the border, the Woman and Child Protection Act would have saved lives by:

    • Allowing Texans to sue abortion pill manufacturers and distributors;
    • Giving women and families the right to sue for wrongful deaths or injuries caused by these drugs; and
    • Empowering the attorney general to prosecute abortion pill traffickers directly.

    While the Texas Senate boldly championed this issueTexas House leadership refused.

    Groups, lawmakers, and activists rallied behind SB 2880 by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola) and Rep. Jeff Leach (R–Allen). However, Chairman Ken King (R–Canadian) delayed SB 2880 so long in committee that it never reached the House floor before the deadline.

    Without this legislation, an estimated 38,000 abortion pills will be brought to Texas between now and the next regular session in 2027—killing babies and endangering as many as 1 in 10 mothers who take them. The only way Texas lawmakers could save children from chemical abortions before 2027 is if Governor Abbott calls a special session for the Woman and Child Protection Act.

    Story continues below.

    Building a Pro-Life Texas Progress: 

    Despite the failure on abortion pills, lawmakers still passed several meaningful Pro-Life measures that help foster a Culture of Life in Texas:

    ✅ Stop Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Travel Act
    (SB 33 by Sen. Donna Campbell, M.D. (R–New Braunfels), sponsored by Rep. Candy Noble (R–Lucas))
    Your taxpayer dollars will be protected from funding abortion travel costs (like what happened in Austin and San Antonio). SB 33 clarifies that it is illegal for governments to give tax dollars to abortion groups.

    ✅ Support for Fragile Babies

    (SB 1233 by Sen. Kelly Hancock (R–North Richland Hills), sponsored by Rep. Valoree Swanson (R–Spring))
    When a family finds out their preborn child may not live very long after birth, hospitals and doctors will now provide information on specialized care for their babies and community support for the parents so they don’t feel alone. The bill offers families hope through nonprofits like Abel Speaks, instead of pushing them toward abortion.

    ✅ The Life of the Mother Act
    (SB 31 by Sen. Bryan Hughes (R–Mineola), sponsored by Rep. Charlie Geren (R–Fort Worth))
    SB 31 reaffirms that doctors are allowed to intervene if a pregnant woman faces a life-threatening physical condition under Texas’ Pro-Life laws. In most cases, the best option is to deliver the baby early—even if the child is too premature to survive—so both mother and baby receive care. Importantly, this sort of pre-viable delivery is often labeled “abortion” by medical professionals, leading to the misunderstanding that it would be banned. In rare and tragic situations where early delivery cannot save either life, the law permits doctors to act to save the mother. SB 31 also provides education for physicians and their legal advisors, helping them navigate these difficult cases and save as many lives as possible.

    ✅ Adoption Education in High Schools
    (SB 1207 by Sen. Phil King (R–Weatherford), sponsored by Rep. Terri Leo Wilson (R–Galveston))
    This bill requires public high schools to teach about adoption in their health classes. Currently, for every 50 babies aborted, only 1 is adopted, largely due to fears and myths about adoption. SB 1207 helps young Texans see adoption as a compassionate and life-affirming option.

    ✅ Protecting Pregnancy Center Funding
    (SB 1388 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R–Brenham), sponsored by Rep. James Frank (R–Wichita Falls))
    SB 1388 ensures that state funds from the Thriving Texas Families program only go to Pro-Life organizations like maternity homes, pregnancy resource centers, and adoption agencies. This way, the funds are not diluted by groups that do not align with the program’s life-affirming purpose.

    Pro-Life Funding (Thriving Texas Families Program)

    The final Texas budget includes $200 million for pregnancy centers, adoption agencies, and maternity homes, thanks to Rep. Caroline Harris Davila (R–Round Rock), Rep. Tom Oliverson, M.D., (R–Cypress), and other leading Pro-Life officials.

    At first, lawmakers sought to cut the program to $140 million ($25 million less than 2023). Texas Right to Life does NOT receive any state funding, but we were the only statewide organization in the Capitol that testified for officials to keep the program’s full amount. While the Senate slightly walked back the needed $210 million, Pro-Life nonprofits will still receive a meaningful boost to serve pregnant women and families.

    Bad Bills Defeated

    This session, we helped defeat several dangerous bills, including efforts that would have:

    • Repealed Pro-Life laws or added exceptions for abortion;
    • Let fathers avoid paying child support if they offered to pay for an abortion; and
    • Honored former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards.

    The Bottom Line

    We’re encouraged by the good steps taken to help moms and babies, but we cannot ignore the bloodshed by abortion pills in Texas and House leadership’s apathy.

    Christians must stay vigilant, engaged, and vocal. Together, we will continue to defend Life at every stage—from fertilization to natural death—and hold elected officials accountable for protecting the most vulnerable.

    LifeNews Note: Ashley Leenerts writes for Texas Right to Life

    The post Abortion Pills are Killing 30,000 Texas Babies a Year. We Must Stop This appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  25. Site: LifeNews
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Dave Andrusko

    Peggy Noonan’s wroteThe End of Roe v. Wade Will Be Good for America” just weeks before the Supreme Court’s June 24, 2022, decision to overturn Roe. The decision had been leaked and even though the Supreme Court said it was a terrible breach of protocol and endangered the lives of justices, the source of the leak was never found.

    Last Monday, “FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino announced on X that he and FBI Director Kash Patel would be reopening several cases that occurred under the Biden administration, including the leak of the Dobbs case,” Bridget Sielicki wrote.

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    Noonan’s insights were keen and very much worth pondering as we now live in a post-Roe world, and while she covers numerous aspects of Roe’s awful impact on our culture, what I find most inspiring is her explanation for why she is pro-life:

    I am pro-life for the most essential reason: That’s a baby in there, a human child. We cannot accept as a society—we really can’t bear the weight of this fact, which is why we keep fighting—that we have decided that we can extinguish the lives of our young. Another reason, and maybe it veers on mysticism, is that I believe the fact of abortion, that it exists throughout the country, that we endlessly talk about it, that the children grow up hearing this and absorbing it and thinking, “We end the life within the mother here,” “It’s just some cells”—that all of this has released a kind of poison into the air, that we breathed it in for 50 years and it damaged everything.

    Yes, Roe changed everything—“damaged everything.”  Roe undermined the moral obligation mothers—and fathers!—have to their unborn children. Like acid, Roe ate away at the foundations of our culture making abortion seem to be acceptable, a reflex “solution” to an unplanned pregnancy.

    Not surprisingly, now that Roe is in the rearview mirror, pro-abortionists have lashed out. Along with their legion of allies in the media, they are formidable foes.

    Yet pro-lifers are the eternal optimists. Why? Because we believe the better angels of our nature will not –cannot–be forever silenced.  As a nation, we are better than turning a blind eye to well over 900,000 abortions a year would have you believe. Reminding our fellow citizens of this tragedy is among the most important tasks you do, day in and day out.

    Noonan’s conclusion is immensely powerful. Remember this was written before June 24, 2022,  Dobbs decision was rendered:

    And if Roe is indeed overturned, God bless our country that can make such a terrible, coldhearted mistake and yet, half a century later, redress it, right it, turn it around. Only a thinking nation could do that. Only a feeling nation could do that. We’re not dead yet, there are still big things going on here.

    LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.

    The post I’m Pro-Life for the Most Essential Reason. That’s a Baby in There appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  26. Site: Fr. Z's Blog
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: frz@wdtprs.com (Fr. John Zuhlsdorf)
    Welcome registrants: Petroseni The monks of Le Barroux have a project. They are trying to build a museum/shop. To get the project rolling they need to sale 20K bottles of wine. That’s where YOU come in. Help monks, get wine. … Read More →
  27. Site: LifeNews
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Wesley Smith

    The New York Times Magazine has a very long article out Sunday highlighting cases of nonterminally ill people being killed by doctors in Canada. It is too long to comment on the whole thing. (Please take the time to read it.) But one story described was so starkly abandoning, I have to bring it to your attention.

    The story describes a woman named Paula, who seems to have been deeply depressed and experiencing chronic pain that could not be diagnosed. She had been abused by her father. She had attempted suicide more than once. After her mother died of cancer, she hit the skids, and she was on the verge of homelessness. Her life went into what would eventually become a literal death spiral. From, “Do Patients Without a Terminal Illness Have the Right to Die?”:

    Paula stopped seeing her therapists and her social workers. She stopped seeing a family doctor because she couldn’t find one. She stopped taking mood stabilizers. She didn’t have a cellphone or a computer, and she spent hours a day just talking on an old black landline phone to people back in Perth. Still, Paula said, she was managing things — she was holding it together — until the concussion.

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    She was beaten up by two women with whom she had been feuding at the housing complex, suffering a concussion, which caused her life to spiral even further. She wanted euthanasia. Tests showed no brain damage. But she was miserable and wanted to die. She went on a crusade to find a doctor — any doctor — who would approve her being killed by lethal injection under Canada’s “Track 2” euthanasia protocol for the nonterminally ill.

    She finally found a death doctor who was willing to kill her, despite knowing that many of her problems were social:

    Fundamentally, he [the death doctor] didn’t think the best way to protect poor and marginalized patients was to force them to stay alive, because in some counterfactual version of events, in which the world was a better and more just place, they might have chosen differently. That wasn’t how anything in medicine worked; a doctor always treated the patient as she was. How could it be otherwise? If only those who were rich or well connected were recognized to have autonomy and allowed to choose? . . .

    He had read the report from Paula’s neurologist, which said that Paula did not have permanent brain damage and was not eligible for MAID. But he thought the specialist, who was not a MAID provider herself, misunderstood the eligibility criteria. There was nothing in the law that said that Paula’s neurological condition had to be tied to actual, physical damage to the brain. Paula’s pain was real either way. She felt it the same either way.

    On the day of the homicide, Paula says she is “terrified.” Of course! She is about to be killed! A “pastor” arrives to “counsel” her. She pushes the killing! This made me regurgitate my lunch:

    Then the minister walked in. Paula had spent days calling religious leaders and asking if they would come sit with her while she died. Some said they would not but that they would pray for her. Others wouldn’t even do that. But then, finally, someone agreed to come. She introduced herself as the Rev. Takouhi Demirdjian-Petro, from the United Church of Canada, and she was tall and sturdy, in a pink clerical blouse. She looked down at Paula and took stock of the tearful situation. “You’re in the hands of the everlasting love of God,” she said firmly.

    Paula started to cry harder, until she was nearly convulsing. “God have mercy on my soul.”

    “God is with you,” the minister said. “And he is guiding you.”

    “What if I get lost?” Paula asked. “My mind doesn’t have a very good GPS. I’m scared of getting lost.”

    “You won’t. I promise you, honey.” The minister told Paula that she had a vision of Paula’s mother waiting for her, like a mother might wait for her daughter at the airport. “And I’m not B.S.ing you. So just let go of this empty, empty world.”

    The death doctor arrives:

    For days, Paula had worried that, at the final moment, she would waver, as she did when she tried to take her life before: pick up the pills, put them down, pick them up again; wade into the river, swim back, over and over. She imagined that when Wonnacott reached for the syringe, she would flinch. But Paula was calm and still as the drugs went in. “I don’t feel anything,” she whispered.

    “Oh, wow,” she said. “This is horrible. I’m just so sorry.” Paula coughed as if she might vomit. Deep, guttural hacks. After a few moments, her body relaxed. A wet tissue fell from her hands. Her skin slowly turned a pale white.

    Soon, Paula is dead.

    Paula is not an anomaly. I just interviewed a Canadian man named Roger Foley for my Humanize podcast. The episode will be posted in a week. He is in a hospital with a progressively disabling condition for which doctors, he says, have repeatedly pushed euthanasia on him for several years — as they concomitantly deny him the kind of care that would make his life easier to bear. I’ll link to that interview here when it’s posted.

    I also included Alex Schadenberg, the founder of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, in the interview. He described how hospital “MAiD teams” visit patients who might qualify to be killed, offering their death services. Can. You. Imagine?

    Euthanasia is awful “medicine” and even worse public policy. It exposes the most vulnerable among us to abandonment and death. It pretends to be kind. It claims to be compassionate. But in the end, it justifies the most callous cruelty.

    LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D. is Chair and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. Wesley is a contributor to National Review and is the author of 14 books, in recent years focusing on human dignity, liberty, and equality. Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and has been honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia. Wesley’s most recent book is Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers to patients of the modern bioethics movement. He blogs at Human Exeptionalism.

    The post Canadian Doctors are Euthanizing Patients Who Aren’t Even Terminally Ill appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  28. Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
    1 week 2 days ago
    Alex Schadenberg
    Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

    I have terrible news.

    The amazing and profound disability activist, Stephen Mendelsohn (63), who worked tirelessly to oppose assisted suicide as a member of Second Thoughts Connecticut and as a member of the EPC - USA board has died.

    According to a media report Stephen Mendelsohn died when he was hit by a car on Sunday evening (June 1).

    Mendelsohn will truly be missed.

    Mendelsohn was an incredible researcher. He would read through legislative texts and uncover specific language variations that may not have been noticed immediately. Also, the interventions that he wrote opposing assisted suicide bills often used new talking points and ways to oppose killing by assisted suicide.

    Mendelsohn followed assisted suicide leglislation closely and regularly sent updates to leaders to inform us on state bills.

    Mendelsohn was an activist who was willing to let it be known why he opposed assisted suicide.

    Stephen Mendelsohn cannot be replaced. I hope that another active focussed and caring researcher / thinker will soon come forward.

    I cannot express enough the loss EPC and others are experiencing in the death of our friend Stephen Mendelsohn.

    Zekher tzadik livrakha

    Some articles by Stephen Mendelsohn:
    • Connecticut bill to prohibit drugs for capital punishment must also prohibit drugs for assisted suicide (Link).
    • Testimony in strong opposition to Minnesota End-of-Life options act (Link).
    • Strong opposition to Connecticut assisted suicide bill (Link).
    • Connecticut assisted suicide bill is defeated again (Link).
    • Disability leader testifies against Connecticut assisted suicide bill (Link).
    • Assisted suicide lobby spreads falsehoods to promote systematic ableism (Link).
  29. Site: LifeNews
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Dave Andrusko

    There are a lot of us at National Right to Life that closely scrutinize medical journals. Not, you understand, that they are immune to pro-abortion bias, but you can still learn a lot.

    And, every once in a while, the truth seeps out. Take “Ob/Gyns Mostly Stayed Put After SCOTUS Overturned Roe, Study Finds:  Surprising results go against the idea that ob/gyns moved from abortion-restrictive states” that appeared here which I wrote about here.

    As Rachael Robertson, Enterprise & Investigative Writer, for MedPage Today wrote back in April, “In the post-Roe v. Wade era, ob/gyns continued to practice in similar locations as before, according to a descriptive cohort study.”

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    She quoted the authors

    “The only statistically significant difference suggested that the share of physicians who are ob/gyns decreased less in threatened states than in protected ones, opposite to the expected finding if ob/gyns were leaving states where abortion is threatened,” the authors wrote.”

    Well, Becky Staiger and Valentin Bolotnyy, two of the three authors of the April 21 JAMA Network Open article, brought their results to a larger audience yesterday—The Hill.

    The headline was even more explicit: “No, OBGYNs are not systematically fleeing states that banned abortion.” They begin by writing that the 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe, supposedly “added a new layer of legal risk” for ob-gyns. However, this has not caused them to hightail it to pro-abortion states.

    But in research just published in JAMA Network Open, we and our co-authors find no evidence of such an exodus of obstetrician-gynecologist physicians from states with abortion bans.

    Really? “OBGYNs also continued to move into states with abortion bans at similar rates to other states,” they wrote. “We also considered trends in the practice locations of recent residency graduates and subspecialists in maternal-fetal medicine, as well as trends in the share of OBGYNs who are female and who are licensed to practice in more than one state. All were similar between states, regardless of abortion’s legality.’ [Emphasis added]

    They also acknowledged that “Our findings are not unique.”

    In December 2024, an independent group of researchers using a different data set came to the exact same conclusions. And in March, researchers showed that the number of obstetrician-gynecologists in states with bans has increased since Dobbs, though perhaps at a slower rate than in a group of states with mixed status.

    Michael New came to a perfectly reasonable conclusion:

    All in all, these results are unsurprising. Surveys consistently show that a low percentage of OBGYNs perform abortions. The legal status of abortion would likely have little impact on the decisions of most OBGYNs as to where to move or locate their practice.

    LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.

    The post OBGYBNs are Still Providing Great Care for Women in Pro-Life States appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  30. Site: Fr. Z's Blog
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: frz@wdtprs.com (Fr. John Zuhlsdorf)
    Welcome to the 13th edition of News of the Church. It’s 2 June 2025 and it is the Monday after Ascension Thursday and we commemorate Sts Marcellinus and Peter.  Some time ago, I saw a movie called News of the … Read More →
  31. Site: Henrymakow.com
    1 week 2 days ago


    drone-strike.jpg
    Please send links and comments to hmakow@gmail.com 

    Mike Adams' Worst Case Scenario:

    Western nations are pushing Russia into a nuclear response to cover up planned financial Armageddon

    "Huge events over the weekend, coordinated with Ukraine, have triggered Russia's nuclear defense doctrine and pushed the world much closer to nuclear Armageddon.


    "How many people realize that by destroying a significant number of Russia's strategic nuclear bombers, Ukraine (and whoever helped them) just caused a crisis-level imbalance in "nuclear parity" which means that Russia, right this very minute, is no doubt debating whether to launch a nuclear first strike on western nations. Ask yourself who benefits from nuclear strikes on western nations. It's obvious. Western leaders are already on the verge of currency collapse and a collapsing debt market. They need a cover story to explain away the great reset / Great Taking. They need Russia to nuke the west so that when all your assets vanish and somehow end up in the hands of the government-connected ultra-wealthy banksters, they can say it isn't their fault. "Russia did it!" The satanic-pedo-lunatics running the UK are leading this effort, and Trump is actually trying to stop it and focus on trade, not war, as far as I can tell. Consider the importance of getting out of fiat currencies if you want to have any assets left at all..."
    ---
    Alex Jones: NATO's Attack On Russia's Nuclear Triad Is A Deliberate Attempt To Trigger All-Out Nuclear War! Tune In NOW As General Flynn & Other Experts Break Down Why Russia's "Pearl Harbor" Signals The Official Start Of WW3!


    trump-nawrocki.jpg
    Poland--Nationalist candidate Nawrocki beat the globalist in the final runoffs of the top two candidates:




    Suspicious that Trump sabotaged his natural ally in Canada. Is there any doubt that the US would invade Canada in the event of world war? This may be the plan.

    --
    Germany's Replacement Migration: 1 in 4 Residents Have Migrant Backgrounds


    "When it comes to all crimes, the quantity and proportion of foreign suspects both spiked sharply. Like violent crimes, the number of non-German suspects also rose sharply to 923,000, a 17.8% increase compared to 2022.  

    A sharp upward trend is also observable in non-violent cases of theft. Home burglaries jumped 18.9%; car theft 17.5%; shoplifting 23.6%; and pickpocketing 11%. Of the 424,000 theft suspects identified, 187,000, or 44%, were non-German passport holders, representing a 22.8% increase compared to the prior year."

    -----

    spectre-vision.jpeg
    Let's pause for a moment to thank Organized Jewry and Freemasonry for the mess we are in.

    Watch as the truth inside a UK migrant hotel is shown, packed with illegal migrants, Arabic NHS posters and a silence from Keir Starmer's Labour government. This insane report reveals the £5+ million a day hotel scandal fuelling Britain's border crisis and so many facts they won't show on the news.

    Inside Illegal Migrant Hotel EXPOSED - (ACTUAL FOOTAGE)


    -
    Migrants tear up Paris

    PJW - France has Fallen



    --
    The John Todd / Lance Collins Tapes
    Archive from the late 1970s of Illuminati bloodline insider John Todd (Lance Collins) on his experiences with the Illuminati and Witchcraft


    "These excerpts contain a speaker's testimony detailing their experiences within the occult and the Illuminati. The speaker describes rising to a high level in witchcraft, alleging connections between these groups and influential figures in politics, entertainment (especially rock music and television), and even some religious organizations. The transcripts outline the speaker's claims about the Illuminati's goals of world control through financial manipulation and engineered crises. They also discuss the speaker's conversion to Christianity, the perceived threats they faced as a result, and warnings about occult symbols, practices, and preparation for future societal collapse.
    -
    1748895984117 (1).jpg
    Hamdy Mig -"After being cut off from flour for more than a week, today I got some of it after a lot of suffering in searching for it. The price of one loaf of bread exceeded $8 if it were available. Praise be to God, this is a great blessing that we received today."

    A Way to Help Gaza



    -
    Just Like Event 201: 2024 Desktop Exercise War-gamed Bioterrorist Attack That Kills 280,000 Americans in a Single Day - on 4 July 2025
    "Imagine a second Trump Lockdown only this time in response to a bio-terror attack?"


    -

    mnra-shedding.png
    Sadly, we are still subject to shedding...
    mRNA Vaccine Can Still Spread from Vaccinated to Unvaccinated
     
    mRNA injections shed -- violating the bodily autonomy of innocent bystanders.

    Peters et al found that women with daily close proximity (within 6 feet) to vaccinated individuals outside their household had significant menstrual abnormalities:

    We are being changed at the molecular level, nano-scientists in the field of bio-mimetic and biowarfare technology will likely recognize these materials or at least their synthetic markers as I do from intense and dedicated study of these materials we have all been seeing in blood. Unfortunately, they wont say anything because it is safer that way, or so they thought. It is happening to you too guys, whats safe there? When did the whole world become cowards to the core? speak up, or soon you will forever hold your peace anyway!

    pike-full-statement.jpg
    Putin,Trump, Zelensky, Satanyahu, Hezbollah, Iran, Hamas - all Freemasons!

    A tour of blood after 30 mins. Devastating. The true signs of nanotechnology frameworks in full take over.
    We are in phase 3 of 3 of the bio-digital convergence."


    "Mostly unvaccinated samples. Remember to be nice to the vaccinated, you are not a pure blood if nobody has blood without this material assembling in it. It is not primarily meant to kill, it is meant to reconfigure and alter the human body. I will save the explanations and other information for streams and live material coming soon. Most who have followed have seen some description of the material and behavior in regards to known synthetic constructs. But i wanted to share this stuff with those who will take it seriously while working away still. The Darkfield modifications are of course valid and proving to offer superior darkfield imaging of materials we couldn't see so accurately before. Biological reasoning is now completely out of the window thanks to this modification alone."

    --

    Lena Petrova - Goodbye Dollar? BRICS and Asia Ditch the Dollar- $7.5 Trillion Shift That Could Crash U.S. Markets



    The US is going into debt at a rate of a trillion dollars every three months. The world is refusing to finance this debt.
    -
    Makow comment 1- In an era of AI and robotics, manufacturing doesn't provide jobs any longer. The most plausible explanation for Trump's tariffs is to repatriate the supply chain in preparation for war.
    Over all, Trump's mission is to discredit MAGA just like Hitler discredited Nazism and antisemitism.

    Makow Comment 2- People are at their best when they are rescuing animals. I love these people. These videos show that there is no such thing as a "wild" animal. Raise them from infancy and they think you are their parent. As society beaks down, our relationship with pets is thriving. Animal rescue people seems to benefit as much as their wards!

  32. Site: LifeNews
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Bryan Kemper

    If you are not from the Cincinnati area you may not be familiar with Cincituckey. It’s the area around the border of Ohio and Kentucky connected by several bridges over the Ohio River.

    This past Sunday, on a beautiful afternoon, I joined thousands of faithful pro-lifers from both states as we gathered for the 20th annual Cross the Bridge for Life. The crowd was full of pastors, priests, nuns, local politicians and families all coming together in unity to stand for Jesus and for life.

    One of the first people I met up with was Cory Bowman, a Republican who is running for mayor of Cincinnati. We talked about the importance of standing boldly for pro-life and not backing down from our stance.

    Bowman’s name might not be familiar to those outside Ohio but he has a very well-known brother, Vice President JD Vance. The two men share a father, Donald Bowman, but have different last names because the vice president eventually took the last name of his maternal grandparents, Bonnie and James Vance.

    Please follow LifeNews on Rumble for the latest pro-life videos.

    Bowman, 36, is the founding co-pastor of a non-denominational Christian church. Among the campaign priorities listed on his website is “safeguarding the unborn.”

    In the November election, he will challenge popular incumbent Aftab Pureval, who, immediately after the fall of Roe v. Wade, stood with representatives of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio to say he would repeal a 2001 law barring the city from covering abortion in its health insurance. I’ll be praying for Bowman’s success.

    Also in attendance was Laura Strietmann, executive director of Cincinnati Right to Life, who showed off a mobile pregnancy help van owned by our friends at Created Equal that travels around Ohio. Many other pregnancy help centers, churches and pro-life organizations also had booths at the event. Archbishop Robert Casey of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and Bishop John Iffert of the Diocese of Covington both took part in the festival and walk.

    After a concert and talks, the walk started in Kentucky and then crossed the half-mile-long, pedestrian-only Purple People Bridge to Ohio. The crowd then returned to the Kentucky side of the former railroad bridge for more talks, food and activities for kids.

    Voters in Ohio approved a pro-abortion constitutional amendment in 2023 and in Kentucky, a pro-life amendment stating that nothing in the state constitution guaranteed a right to abortion was defeated in 2022. Abortion remains legal until 22 weeks in Ohio but a Kentucky law enacted after the fall of Roe v. Wade that allows abortion only under certain severe medical circumstances remains in effect and just two days before the Bridge event, pro-lifers in the state got some good news: The ACLU, without explanation, dropped a lawsuit seeking to overturn the protective law.

    The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services reported just 23 abortions in 2023, all deemed medically necessary, compared to 4,441 in 2021 when abortion was fully legal. In 2023, Ohio saw 22,000 abortions, an increase of 19 percent over the previous year.

    Cross the Bridge for Life provided a perfect Sunday afternoon to gather with so many committed, passionate people and clergy to take a stand for life. Now more than ever we must stand united against the abortion industry and be a light for Christ.

    Crossing a bridge shouldn’t mean the difference between life and death.

    LifeNews Note: Bryan Kemper is the director of youth outreach and street activism for Priests for Life and the founder of its youth outreach Stand True. He is the author of Pro-life is the New Punk Rock.

    The post Thousands of Pro-Life People in Cincinnati Area Stand Against Abortion appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  33. Site: Catholic Conclave
    1 week 2 days ago
     20 years of the Neo-Catechumenal Way on CathconCatholic Conclavehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06227218883606585321noreply@blogger.com0
  34. Site: LES FEMMES - THE TRUTH
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: noreply@blogger.com (Mary Ann Kreitzer)
  35. Site: American College of Pediatricians
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: pete@sockemwebsolutions.com

    The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) affirms limiting screen time due to the negative effect of excessive screen time and early use of screen time on the health of children and adolescents. All forms of media, especially visual media, play an increasing role in the lives of children, adolescents, and families in the United States. While very limited use of high-quality and developmentally appropriate media under adult supervision may have a positive influence after two years of age, excessive or developmentally inappropriate use carries grave health risks. Excessive exposure to screens (television, tablets, smartphones, computers, and video game consoles), especially at young ages, is associated with lower academic performance, sleep disturbances, obesity, attention deficit disorder, increased aggression, lower self-esteem, depression, and increased rates of high-risk behaviors. ACPeds encourages parents to become media literate and limit screen time for their children, and to set a positive example by limiting screen time for themselves, which will also contribute to fostering healthy relationships with their children.

    Approved by the ACPeds Board of Directors (May 2025)
    Approved by ACPeds Members (June 2025)

    Corresponding ACPeds Referenced Paper: 

    Media Use and Screen Time – Its Impact on Children, Adolescents, and Families (May 2020)

    Other Pertinent ACPeds Referenced Papers:

    The Adolescent Brain: Under Construction (May 2022)

    The Impact of Pornography on Children (Aug. 2024)

     

     

  36. Site: Novus Ordo Watch
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: admin

    Response to another flawed semi-trad argument…

    Don’t Be Like Judas!
    (Nor Like Eric Sammons, For That Matter)

    OK, so we doctored this screenshot a little: The painting on the left doesn’t actually show the betrayal of Judas

    Eric Sammons, editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine, recently released a video clip on YouTube that’s a composite of highlights from his 35-minute Crisis Point podcast episode “Don’t Be Judas” of Apr. 15, 2025.

    As the clip is less than a minute long (a so-called YouTube ‘short’), a lot more people will be exposed to what Sammons says there than would take the time to sit through the full-length episode.… READ MORE

  37. Site: Novus Ordo Wire – Novus Ordo Watch
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: admin

    Response to another flawed semi-trad argument…

    Don’t Be Like Judas!
    (Nor Like Eric Sammons, For That Matter)

    OK, so we doctored this screenshot a little: The painting on the left doesn’t actually show the betrayal of Judas

    Eric Sammons, editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine, recently released a video clip on YouTube that’s a composite of highlights from his 35-minute Crisis Point podcast episode “Don’t Be Judas” of Apr. 15, 2025.

    As the clip is less than a minute long (a so-called YouTube ‘short’), a lot more people will be exposed to what Sammons says there than would take the time to sit through the full-length episode.… READ MORE

  38. Site: American College of Pediatricians
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: pete@sockemwebsolutions.com

    The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) affirms that the consumption of pornography (depiction of erotic behavior or images to cause sexual excitement) negatively impacts the physical, psychological, emotional and social health of adults, children, and families. Viewing pornography has become pervasive even among young children and can be highly addictive. It has been declared a public health crisis by many states. Current mobile and high speed internet technology makes the use or exposure to pornography ubiquitously available for adults and adolescents. For children, negative effects of pornography exposure include anxiety, depression, violence, and the sexual assault of other children. Pornography is also used to groom children for sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

    Pornography use results in a deformed and maladaptive view of human sexuality and relationships.  This results in higher rates of depression, dissatisfaction with a sexual partner, and dissatisfaction with marriage.  Men who view large amounts of pornography are more likely to downplay the seriousness of rape, and to even endorse the myth that women enjoy rape.

    The ACPeds recognizes that pornography is addictive with negative consequences to society, and especially to children. It undermines healthy adult sexual and non-sexual relationships and harms children directly and indirectly. Parents need to protect children and adolescents from the harmful effects of pornography by putting parental controls in place so that children cannot access it on devices.  Parents should also work with local and state officials to outlaw its production and consumption.

    Approved by the ACPeds Board of Directors (May 2025)
    Approved by ACPeds Members (June 2025)

     Corresponding ACPeds Referenced Paper:

    The Impact of Pornography on Children (Aug. 2024)

    Other Pertinent ACPeds Referenced Paper:

    Media Use and Screen Time – Its Impact on Children, Adolescents, and Families (May 2020)

  39. Site: American College of Pediatricians
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: pete@sockemwebsolutions.com

    The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) affirms that parents provide the foundational role of support, nurturance, and guidance for their children.1 That role includes the fundamental right to direct the child’s upbringing. It is essential that society supports parents by respecting their natural right and legal authority to make decisions for their children, including educational and medical decisions. Parents, in this context, include biological and adoptive parents, as well as state-appointed guardians and custodial grandparents.

    Parents have no right to physically, sexually, or emotionally abuse or neglect their children. Parents also do not have the right to agree to mutilating function-reducing surgeries or potentially sterilizing treatments except when necessary to preserve their child’s life from a physical illness (e.g., agreeing to chemotherapy treatments for cancer).

    Disciplinary measures such as time-out, transient restraint, and properly applied disciplinary spanking do not qualify as physical abuse.2  Pediatricians are obligated to attempt to prevent potential abuse before it occurs through education of parents, mediation with parents and adolescents, and referrals for counselling when appropriate.  If pediatricians suspect abuse is occurring, or has occurred, they are obligated to report it and protect the child/adolescent.

    Current scientific research demonstrates that:

    1. Children and adolescents have immature brain development indicating the need for strong parental guidance in decision making. Brain development in humans continues until the early to mid twenties, particularly in the areas involving decision making under stress.3
    2. Children and adolescents do better in an authoritative environment in which parents state their expectations and provide consequences for inappropriate behavior.4
    3. Adolescents are less likely to participate in high-risk behaviors if their parents are “hands on” parents who monitor and guide all of their activities.3,4
    4. Adolescents are less likely to participate in high-risk behaviors if they feel connected to their parents and family.3,4
    5. Successfully navigating adolescence and avoiding high-risk behaviors will allow youth to enter adult careers, relationships, responsibilities, and parenting with better skills and increased likelihood of optimal outcomes.

    Laws regarding adolescent confidentiality and parental notification or consent vary widely among states.  All states allow adolescent confidentiality regarding sexually transmitted diseases, but not all states require it.  Some states require that one or both parents be notified of a minor’s abortion, others require consent of one or both parents, and others deny parents any knowledge or rights.  Pediatricians should be knowledgeable regarding the legal requirements of the state in which they practice.  When feasible, ACPeds recommends pediatricians offer to assist their adolescent patients in confiding in their parents and encourage open communication between parent and child/adolescent.  Often parents know family medical history of which adolescents are unaware.  Discussing the benefits of avoiding sexual activity before marriage, of keeping the brain drug-free, etc. with parents and the adolescent in the exam room together, can open lines of conversation.  Laws mandating adolescent confidentiality put pediatricians in an adversarial position and interfere with the ability of parents to provide needed guidance as the primary educators of their children. Such laws are harmful to both adolescents and parents. Thus the American College of Pediatricians opposes them.

    Approved by the ACPeds Board of Directors (May 2025)
    Approved by ACPeds Members (June 2025)

    Corresponding ACPeds Referenced Paper:

    Adolescent Confidentiality (Sept. 2020)

    Other Pertinent ACPeds Referenced Papers:

    Discipline of the Child (Dec. 2021)

    The Adolescent Brain: Under Construction (May 2022)

    The Roles, Responsibilities and Rights of Parents (May 2023)

    Parental Involvement and Consent for a Minor’s Abortion (May 2016)

  40. Site: American College of Pediatricians
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: pete@sockemwebsolutions.com

    The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) affirms children living with their married, biological parents consistently have better physical, emotional, and academic well-being (unless the children are experiencing an abusive environment). Although the demographics of families are changing, with more parents opting for cohabitation or divorce and stepparenting, the research continues to demonstrate the benefits of the married environment for children’s development.

    Each child and each family are obviously unique, with different strengths and weaknesses, different personalities and temperaments, and varying degrees of social, emotional and economic resources, as well as differing family situations prior to divorce. Despite these differences, divorce has been shown to diminish a child’s future competence in all areas of life, including family relationships, education, emotional well-being, and future earning power.

    With divorce and single parenting, children experience significant potential losses, including loss of time with parents, loss of economic security, loss of emotional security and weakened relationships with parents, loss of academic stimulation and possible loss of religious faith and practice. Children who have experienced divorce are at greater risk for physical, emotional and sexual abuse by a nonbiological parent-figure living in the home, and they may be less likely to value their own marriage in the future.  Even the divorced adults (primarily mothers) may suffer similar losses, including decreased physical, emotional, and financial well-being.

    When adults view their marriage as damaged and “at risk”, those who persist and work to improve their marriage often find ten years later that they are in a happy relationship.  Therefore, ACPeds encourages married parents to work to improve their relationship and avoid divorce whenever possible. ACPeds supports the well-being of children, regardless of their family structure, and encourages parents (biological or adoptive) and guardians to provide maximal love and nurturance to their children.

    Approved by the ACPeds Board of Directors (May 2025)
    Approved by ACPeds Members (June 2025)

    Corresponding ACPeds Referenced Paper:

    Marriage, Divorce, and Family Relations: Effect on Children (2025)

    Other Pertinent ACPeds Referenced Papers:

    Marriage and the Family (Sept. 2014)

    Cohabitation: Effects of Cohabitation on the Men and Women Involved – Part 1 of 2 (Mar. 2015)

    Cohabitation: Effects of Parental Cohabitation and other Non-marital Sexual Activity on Children – Part 2 of 2 (Jul. 2015)

    Same-Sex Parenting: A Scientific Analysis (May 2019)

     

  41. Site: American College of Pediatricians
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: pete@sockemwebsolutions.com

    The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) affirms the medical fact that the sex of an individual is based upon an immutable, genetically-determined biological reality.1 The two sexes, male and female, are defined by reproductive design. A female has the anatomy (ovaries) to form the larger gametes (eggs) and support the development of the offspring in her uterus. A male has the anatomy (testicles) to produce the smaller gametes (sperm) and a penis which delivers the sperm into the female by way of her vagina. Sexually specific genes are encrypted in every nucleated cell of the body.  Outward appearances as well as hormonal or surgical interventions do not change a person’s sex. The “transition” that individuals who are uncomfortable with or distressed by their biological sex (“gender dysphoria”) undergo only involves a change in outward appearance or presentation.

    Those with gender dysphoria have higher rates of co-occurring mental health concerns than other LGBTQ+ identifying adolescents.2 Many children and adolescents with sexual identities incongruent with their sex have experienced significant psychological trauma leading to their gender dysphoria.  Although parents are often told that their children will commit suicide if their false sexual identity is not supported, there is no long-term evidence that transgender interventions prevent suicidal ideation or behaviors.  In fact, pursuing interventions to align with the opposite sex is more likely to result in deleterious long-term mental and physical health outcomes, including sterility.  Many individuals who have gone through those interventions later regret them and seek to align again with their biological sex.

    Social affirmation, puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and drugs, and surgical interventions used with the intent of “transitioning” a child are harmful to the physical, psychological, and emotional health of the child.3 Informed consent for these interventions from either the parent or the child cannot be obtained without good long-term studies on the risks and benefits of the procedures. Thus far there are no good long term studies showing any benefits. Nor can informed consent by pediatric patients be legitimate given the immaturity of their brains.3  In many cases, these interventions are irreversible and may render the adolescent infertile for life.  Because of discovered risks and unrealized benefits of social, medical, and surgical interventions, many European countries are now cautioning against these interventions while encouraging mental health therapy as the proper course of treatment for children and adolescents.

    Therefore, the ACPeds cannot condone any of these interventions for children and adolescents. Intensive psychotherapy for the individual and family to determine and hopefully treat the underlying etiology of their gender incongruence should be pursued. That approach has been shown to resolve gender dysphoria while allowing the child to progress through natural puberty.

    Approved by the ACPeds Board of Directors (May 2025)
    Approved by ACPeds Members (June 2025)

    Pertinent ACPeds Referenced Papers:

    Sex is a Biological Trait of Medical Significance (March 2021)

    Mental Health in Adolescents with Incongruence of Gender Identity and Biological Sex (Feb. 2024)

    Gender Dysphoria in Children (Oct. 2018)

    Adolescent Brain: Under Construction (May 2022)

    Other ACPeds Resources Available:

    Biological Integrity: Integrating the Mind and Body

    Doctors Protecting Children

  42. Site: ChurchPOP
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Ishmael Adibuah

    Pope Leo XIV, like his predecessor Pope Francis, is a pope of notable firsts.

    Formerly Robert Cardinal Prevost, OSA, Pope Leo XIV is the first pope from the United States, the first from North America, the first to have Peruvian citizenship, and the first from the Augustinian Order. 

    Perhaps the Augustinian charism has profoundly shaped his life, including these early days of his papacy.

    However, the influence of Saint Augustine of Hippo, the fourth-century bishop and Doctor of the Church, is not unique to Pope Leo among recent popes.

    Pope Benedict XVI, while not a member of the Augustinians, also shares with Pope Leo a life and ministry shaped by Saint Augustine. 

    Both Pope Leo and Pope Benedict completed their doctoral work on Saint Augustine as young priests.

    The then-Father Robert Prevost, a canon law student in Rome, defended his doctoral thesis in 1987, discussing the role of local priors in the Augustinian order based on Augustine’s monastic rule.

    Pope Benedict, as Father Joseph Ratzinger, completed his theology doctorate in 1953 in Germany with a dissertation on Augustine’s concept of the People of God. 

    But what was Augustine’s influence on their work as bishops? 

    In both, this influence meant helping others in their search for God through preaching and pastoral closeness.

    Saint Augustine insisted that Christians ought to use their talents in service to God and others. 

    For Father Prevost, this was evident as a missionary and bishop in Peru. There, he accompanied Catholics and others through civil unrest and natural disasters, offering them an example of how to live out the Gospel. 

    For Father Ratzinger, this commitment to the Augustinian ideal of service was manifested by his teaching and episcopal career. Like Augustine, he taught about the compatibility of faith and reason and the primacy of love as communion. 

    Both Popes have also shown their devotion to Saint Augustine in their respective coats of arms.

    Pope Leo XIV’s coat of arms features an emblem of the Augustinian order: an inflamed, pierced heart resting upon a book. The emblem represents the conversion experience of Saint Augustine, who described it using the phrase,

    “Vulnerasti cor meum verbo tuo” - “You have pierced my heart with your Word.” Pope Leo XIV's Coat of Arms / Wikimedia Commons

    Pope Benedict XVI’s coat of arms features a scallop shell, which relates to a famous legend of Saint Augustine.

    While walking on a beach one day, he noticed a child trying to use a seashell to scoop up the sea into a hole in the sand. When he told the boy that this was impossible, the boy replied that this represented Augustine’s attempts to comprehend the mystery of the Trinity and the need for childlike faith. 

    Pope Benedict XVI's Coat of Arms / Wikimedia Commons

    As the new pontificate of Pope Leo XIV continues, we do not have to look too far into the past to see the influence of Saint Augustine, the Doctor of Grace, on recent pontificates. 

    Benedict XVI’s teachings as pope were heavily influenced by Augustine, and he once referred to him as "the greatest Father of the Latin Church." Like him, he taught that God was accessible to human reason, and that both faith and reason led to true knowledge. 

    In a world marked by more complex challenges, Saint Augustine can help the new Pope, and us, promote the Gospel as a response to the deepest questions of the human heart. 

    Saint Augustine, Doctor of the Church, pray for us!

  43. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Trans-Identifying Athlete Wins 2 Girls' Track Events In California

    Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

    A transgender-identifying athlete won two girls’ events at the California high school championship on May 31, despite President Donald Trump threatening to rescind federal funding over the state’s failure to abide by his order banning male athletes from competing in girls’ sports.

    A.B. Hernandez, a male high school student in Southern California who identifies as transgender, won the high jump and triple jump and placed second in the long jump at the California high school track and field championship, competing in the girls’ division.

    The event took place after the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), which governs the state’s high school sports, changed its rules on May 28. Under the new rule, a “biological female student-athlete” who would have earned a particular placement in track events would still receive the placement and medal she qualified for.

    Following the rule changes, Hernandez shared first place in the high jump with co-winners Jillene Wetteland and Lelani Laruelle, and in the triple jump with Kira Gant Hatcher, who trailed by just more than a half-meter.

    “The CIF values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code,” the organization said in a May 28 statement.

    The statement came after Trump warned California on May 27 that “large scale” federal funding would be withheld, “maybe permanently,” if the state does not comply with his Feb. 5 executive order that banned male students who identify as female from competing in girls’ sports.

    In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom for allowing a male athlete to compete against female athletes at an event.

    He stated that the male athlete “won everything” and advanced to the state finals. Trump did not name the athlete, but it was widely presumed to be Hernandez.

    “As a Male, he was a less than average competitor. As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable,” Trump stated. “THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS.”

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also launched a civil rights investigation into California’s law that has allowed males to compete in girls’ sports.

    The DOJ announced on May 28 that its investigation aims to determine whether California, along with its senior legal, educational, and athletic organizations, was “engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on sex.”

    At the heart of the probe is AB 1266, a 2014 California law that permits students to participate in school sports in accordance with their gender identity and not their sex.

    The DOJ contends this policy may unlawfully allow males to displace females from team rosters, scholarships, and podium finishes—outcomes that DOJ officials argue run afoul of Title IX, the landmark federal civil rights law.

    Tyler Durden Mon, 06/02/2025 - 15:05
  44. Site: RT - News
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: RT

    The Turkish leader has suggested hosting a leadership-level summit in Istanbul or Ankara

    Türkiye is ready to continue mediating between Russia and Ukraine to help end the conflict and plans to propose hosting a summit bringing together the two countries’ leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

    Speaking in a televised address posted on X, Erdogan described the second meeting between delegations from Moscow and Kiev in a month as “very magnificent.”

    “My biggest wish is to bring together both (Russian President) Vladimir Putin and (Ukraine’s Vladimir) Zelensky, perhaps in Istanbul or Ankara,” he said, suggesting that US President Donald Trump could also take part in the gathering.

    “If they agree, I would join the meeting personally,” Erdogan stated, calling for Istanbul to become “a true center of peace.”

    During Monday’s meeting in Istanbul, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations agreed on a “largest ever” prisoner exchange, according to the head of the Russia negotiation team, Vladimir Medinsky. The swap will include all severely injured and seriously ill POWs, as well as a separate mechanism involving all captive soldiers who are under 25 years old, he told reporters.

    Read more  Vladimir Medinsky. Moscow and Kiev agree to largest-ever prisoner swap – Russia’s top negotiator

    Medinsky also said Russia would unilaterally return the bodies of 6,000 Ukrainian servicemen next week. Moscow also presented Kiev with a detailed memorandum outlining a proposal for a lasting peace and steps toward a “full-fledged ceasefire,” he said.

    Türkiye has played a key mediating role between Russia and Ukraine since 2022, when it hosted early peace talks between the two. Those talks failed to bring about a breakthrough after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised Kiev not to accept a deal, and to seek victory on the battlefield.

    Ukraine returned to talks under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has insisted that a truce be brokered. The previous round of talks, held in Istanbul on May 16, led to the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side.

    On Monday, the Ukrainian delegation suggested holding the next meeting before the end of June, the head of Kiev’s delegation Rustem Umerov told reporters after the talks. Moscow has not commented on the proposal.

  45. Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
    1 week 2 days ago
    The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) offers several ways to protect you from euthanasia and assisted suicide.

    1. The Life-Protecting Power of Attorney for Personal Care will protect you when you cannot make medical or personal care decisions for yourself.

    This legal document enables you to appoint someone you trust to be your Power of Attorney for Personal Care (language differs based on jurisdiction). This document makes clear statements about euthanasia, assisted suicide and medical treatment options and guides medical practitioners and the person you have appointed to make medical and personal care decisions that protect your life, when you are unable to make decisions for yourself.

    The Life Protecting Power of Attorney has a basic format that is legal within most jurisdictions and there are specific formats for jurisdictions with special requirements.

    Canadians and Americans can purchase the Life Protecting Power of Attorney based on the jurisdiction) they reside. 

    Canadians purchase the Life-Protecting Power of Attorney from EPC for $10 + taxes. 
    Americans purchase US State versions from EPC USA (Purchase link) for $15 or contact EPC at: 1-877-439-3348 or info@epcc.ca.

    2. EPC suggests that you write a straight forward letter to your physician explaining that you oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide. Request that the letter be added to your medical file.

    3. The Do Not Kill Me wallet card is available from EPC upon request or with a donation. The card provides further protection when sign and date, with a witness, on the back of the card.

    EPC will also send you Do Not Kill Me wallet cards if you contact us by email at: info@epcc.ca. or call us at: 1-877-439-3348. 

    Euthanasia Prevention Coalition yearly friendship fee is $30 for an individual or $50 for a group. Pay for your friendship online, or by credit card by calling EPC at: 1-877-439-3348.
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    Donations can be made to EPC (Online Donation Link) or (Paypal Donation Link) or E-transfer donations are sent to info@epcc.ca or call the EPC office at: 1-877-439-3348.

    EPC works with the Compassionate Community Care charity (CCC) that offers practical advice and information for people when they or a loved one has questions related to medical treatment questions or are concerned that a loved one is considering or being pressured towards euthanasia or assisted suicide.

    CCC has developed a community based Visitor Training Program to provide training for you to visit people who are lonely and isolated. CCC developed an Advocacy Training Program to help you to provide medical or personal care advocacy for people you know. CCC also established a calling service to contact people who are lonely, isolated and vulnerable. Contact CCC at: 1-855-675-8749.
  46. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Never Forget Their Excuses For Lockdowns

    Authored by John Tamny via The Brownstone Institute,

    The worst arguments against the lockdowns inspired by the coronavirus were medical and statistical.

    To see why, it’s worth remembering that as humans we’ve evolved to protect ourselves from death and disease.

    The taking of freedom to protect us is always and everywhere excess. 

    The above statement of the obvious requires mention as free thinkers and free-thinking organizations continue to either ignore how they sat out the lockdowns, or worse, excuse their inaction amid a massive bludgeoning of freedom back in 2020.

    Let’s start with those trying to excuse their inaction.

    The not-infrequently offered excuse is that since most organizations and individuals in the libertarian space either weren’t staffed by medical doctors or weren’t medical doctors themselves, how could they have made credible cases against the lockdowns? Instead, and rather than take a stand, they adopted “wait and see” approaches so that medical verdicts could be rendered. About those verdicts, some libertarian types are now saying that those who were publicly against the lockdowns back in 2020 were correct, but they made their cases obnoxiously and blindly given their lack of medical knowledge. The only response to this kind of dissembling is nonsense, utter nonsense. See this write-up’s introductory paragraph to see why.

    Just as the worst arguments against the lockdowns were medical and statistical, the medical and statistical arguments made in favor of lockdowns were, if possible, even worse. As stated above, no one requires force to avoid sickness or death. About this point, more on it in a bit.

    For now, it should just be said that even if the medical consensus had been correct, that millions and millions of Americans would die absent being forced out of work and into their homes, then any lockdown orders foisted on us by nail-biting politicians would have read as tame relative to the precautions taken by free people. The more threatening anything is, the more superfluous is any kind of policy reaction to the threat.

    The simple, overwhelming truth is that people should never have their individual freedom to protect themselves taken from them, period. End of story.

    Applying the previous assertion to organizations like Cato, Students for Liberty, and others that seemingly took a “wait and see” approach to the lockdowns, their stances were wrongheaded. Lest they or readers forget, the organizations mentioned were founded on the notion of individual freedom as the foremost ideal. In which case a “wait and see what the science or medical establishment says” is dangerously wrong.

    It is simply because, as Brownstone Institute founder Jeffrey Tucker has pointed out, politicians at the local, state, and national levels did not take a “wait and see” approach. That they didn’t calls into serious question organizations and individuals sitting on their hands. How could they? Since we know government will never wait and see on anything, what an odd excuse or piece of internal reasoning to explain away a lack of action. It implies that freedom should always be the loser in times of uncertainty, or when politicians are feeling particularly hysterical. 

    At which point it should be said that freedom is easily the best way to turn the unknowns and uncertainty into true knowledge. So, while libertarian groups and individuals who sat out the lockdowns should reflexively defend freedom every time government is in the process of taking it, it’s useful to add that free people crucially produce information.

    Which brings us back to the earlier assertion in this write-up that people don’t need to be forced to avoid sickness or death. Some no doubt responded as they read the latter that some people would in fact have lived, worked, and run their businesses without regard to a spreading virus. To which the answer here can only be precisely.

    Precisely because free people will respond in all manner of ways (including disdain) to fears driven by unknowns, we need them to be free. Without millions of different responses, or realistically hundreds of millions of different responses in the US, people (including “experts”) will be blinded to the truth about whatever it is that threatens us, or not. Since free people once again produce information, the only answer to uncertainty about what we don’t know is freedom. 

    It’s just something to keep in mind in the here and now. Four years ago this month, over 40 million Americans lost their jobs, and hundreds of millions around the world found themselves hurtling toward starvation amid a global panic among politicians. Shamefully and tragically, some of the foremost organizations and individuals devoted to liberty sat out the tragedy and seemingly defend their inaction to this day by hiding behind medicine, science, and a lack of information. The excuses and internal justifications are wholly insufficient. Freedom is its own always and everywhere virtue, period.

    Republished from RealClearMarkets

    Tyler Durden Mon, 06/02/2025 - 14:25
  47. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    Trump-Endorsed Nationalist Narrowly Wins Polish Presidential Election

    In Poland's extraordinarily tight and closely-watched presidential run-off election, a staunch nationalist conservative on Sunday defeated a pro-EU liberal in an outcome that promises economic and geopolitical implications. With 100% of the precincts reporting, conservative historian Karol Nawrocki had 50.9% of the votes, compared to 49.1% for leftist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who prematurely declared victory on Sunday evening after the first exit polls showed him at 50.3%. 

    Among the key issues in the election were immigration, abortion, support for Ukraine, and Polish integration with the rest of Europe. When he takes office on August 6, Nawrocki -- a former boxer who leads the Institute for National Remembrance -- will succeed term-limited President Andrzej Duda. Like Nawrocki, Duda is associated with the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party.

    Karol Nawrocki was endorsed by President Trump, who hosted him at the White House in May

    Before the final tally, Nawrocki was optimistic, saying “I believe we will all wake up tomorrow morning with President Nawrocki putting the broken Poland back together.” He also quoted the Bible, saying God would "heal the land" of good people who “turn away from wicked ways."

    Voicing Poland-first sentiments, Nawrocki previously said:

    "We cannot afford actions that harm our economy, agriculture, people’s wallets or the functioning of our social welfare systems. All decisions regarding the future of our good economic and political cooperation, including with Ukraine, will be based solely on the interests of Poland and Poles."

    He has also warned against Ukrainian accession to NATO anytime soon, saying "It would be dangerous for Ukraine to be allowed into NATO as it would mean that the whole of the alliance would straight away be in a war with Russia.” He also said “The discussion about Ukraine’s entry to NATO is pointless...[Given its corruption], the Ukrainian state is not ready for many processes.” However, he's also said, "we will continue, when I become president, to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian Federation’s threat, which is also hostile to us. That is self-evident." 

    He's also hammered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: 

    “The Ukrainian president behaves in an indecent manner toward his allies, including Poland. He claimed that Ukraine was left alone at the start of the war, which shows he failed to recognise the significant efforts of the Polish people and the Polish president”

    President Trump endorsed Nawrocki, welcoming him to the White House in May and dispatching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to a May 27 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting in Warsaw where she implored Poles to put Nawrocki in office: "I just had the opportunity to meet with Karol and listen -- he needs to be the next president of Poland. Do you understand me?” Noem also trashed Trzaskowski as “an absolute train wreck of a leader.” 

    Heading into the runoff, the Polish stock market had rocketed ahead by 27% over the year to date, and 61% in dollar terms since the last parliamentary election, while government bonds returned 28%. Many observers expected a Nawrocki win to be a negative for the country's markets. "It's possible that the more NATO-skeptic Nawrocki may position Poland in a less favorable position when the time comes to rebuild Ukraine - a theme that has attracted investors to the Warsaw bourse of late," noted Dow Jones' Jamie Chisholm last week. Polish equities are trading at an average 9.7 PE ratio relative to estimated earnings for the coming 12 months, compared to 14.7 for the Euro STOXX 50. 

    Victorious nationalist presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki speaks to supporters after the polls closed on Sunday (AP Photo - Czarek Sokolowski)

    Political power in Poland is concentrated in the parliament and the prime minister, but, critically, presidents have the power to veto legislation and nominate the leader of the central bank. Nawrocki campaigned on the need for a check on what he called Tusk's political "monopoly" over national policy. Duda has thwarted Tusk's effort to fulfill campaign promises to loosen abortion restrictions and allow civil partnerships for homosexual couples. 

    As the race headed down the home stretch, several members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen alleging possible foreign interference in the election, in the form of illegal spending on ads by an Austrian company with ties to the US Democratic Party, and by an NGO that's received money from George Soros-funded organizations. The letter also demanded answers about liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government’s "monthslong refusal to release tens of millions of dollars in public campaign funding that PiS is legally entitled to receive."

    Turnout Polish presidents are elected to five-year terms, and they can only be re-elected once. The next major milestone in the country will come with 2027's parliamentary elections. Nawrocki's victory comes amid a string of elections across Europe pitting EU- and NATO-catering leftists against conservative nationalists. In mid-May, nationalist Romanian presidential candidate George Simion lost to centrist Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, following an election saga that saw the leading nationalist candidate banned from running and arrested. Simion endorsed Poland's Nawrocki, as did nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Upcoming contests of note include Norway's parliamentary elections on Sept. 8, Italy's regional elections on Sept. 21-22, and Moldova's parliamentary races on Sept. 28.   

    Tyler Durden Mon, 06/02/2025 - 14:11
  48. Site: Zero Hedge
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Tyler Durden
    American Retail Giants Demand Chinese Suppliers Cover Up To 66% Of US Import Tariffs

    Last week we showed that contrary to conventional wisdom, inflation - so widely and erroneously expected to soar after Trump's tariffs - had not only continued to decline, but the Fed's most closely watched metric, supercore PCE, just posted its biggest monthly drop since the covid crash.

    And it's about to get even worse for the inflation fanatics: according to the South China Morning Post, American retail giants are now demanding that their Chinese suppliers shoulder half to 66% of the cost of US import duties, as the ongoing US-China trade war ramps up pressure on businesses’ bottom lines.

    Amid widespread confusion over who will shoulder the burden of import tariffs, US retailers have been quietly locked in talks with Chinese producers for weeks over how to handle the additional costs caused by the trade war, with the firms facing intense political pressure at home to “eat the tariffs” and keep prices stable.

    While Walmart and several other major US retail groups previously agreed to bear the full cost of the tariffs when they asked their Chinese suppliers to resume shipments in late April, global brands including several US retail giants are now pushing suppliers in both China and parts of Southeast Asia to absorb a large chunk of the cost of the levies, according to sources from suppliers serving companies including Walmart, Target, Nike, Puma and Adidas.

    “Most of our customers, the garment vendors exporting to major retailers and brands, are being asked to cover 50 to 66 per cent of the current tariffs,” said an executive at a fashion supplier, which produces and sources from China and Southeast Asia and then sells across the United States and Europe.

    While negotiations remain fluid, the details of how the tariff costs will be divided have not yet been finalized, the SCMP sources stressed, as both sides remain in constant contact as they try to navigate a “tough time” for the industry.

    But many Chinese suppliers said they would struggle to bear the additional costs being demanded of them – especially if the current 90-day truce in the US-China trade war expires without Beijing and Washington reaching a deal.

    In mid-May, Beijing and Washington agreed to drastically scale back tariffs on each other’s products for 90 days, with the US reducing its additional duties on Chinese goods from 145 per cent to 30 per cent and China slashing its levies on US products from 125% to 10%. But absent a deal, the tariffs will skyrocket back to three-digit levels in August. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent admitted on Thursday that talks between Beijing and Washington were currently “a bit stalled”.

    A source with a stationery maker in eastern China’s Zhejiang province told the Post that the company had been in discussions with Walmart and other US retailers over “a backup plan” for what may happen after the tariff truce ends in August.

    Walmart agreed to cover the full cost of any tariffs until August in its previous deals with the stationery maker, but the US retailer has yet to place any orders beyond August.

    According to the source, the Zhejiang manufacturer is capable of footing about 30 per cent of the additional costs from the tariffs, but there is “no room” to go up to 50 per cent or higher. The company has yet to reach an agreement with Walmart.

    “We agree to get prepared for the worst situation, while hoping for the best,” the person said, referring to a potential return to triple-digit tariffs.

    When contacted by the Post for comment, a spokesperson for Walmart said: “We have always worked to keep our prices as low as possible. We’ll keep prices as low as we can for as long as we can given the reality of small retail margins.”

    Puma declined to comment, while Target, Nike and Adidas did not immediately respond to the Post’s inquiry.

    Bessent said on Thursday that there was “likely” a need for US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping to intervene to get a deal over the finishing line before August 12.

    In keeping with Beijing's protecionist tradition, there has been a focus in China on mitigating the impact of the trade war by helping exporters pivot to the domestic market. But that often is not possible for Chinese factories that make products on a contract basis for foreign brands, according to a report by Christopher Beddor, deputy China researcher at analysis firm Gavekal.

    “One executive at a large online retailer notes that pants made for the US market run much longer than those in China,” he wrote. “There’s also less domestic demand for oven gloves – as fewer housing units in China have ovens – and no buyers for some products such as bulk Christmas cards.”

    Chinese exporters “will almost certainly be forced to curtail output and divert supply to other markets”, Beddor noted, hinting at a wave of deflationary exports by China.

    In the US, meanwhile, retailers are coming under political pressure not to raise prices. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned on May 15 that the retail giant was unable to absorb all the costs of the trade war and would need to hike some prices. Two days later, Trump posted on social media that Walmart and China should “eat the tariffs”.

    On May 21, Nike announced that it would start raising prices to offset the high costs brought by US tariffs. German sportswear brand Puma, meanwhile, has adapted its supply chain by cutting the volume of goods being shipped directly from China to the US, but has not ruled out the possibility of price rises.

    Fellow German sportswear giant Adidas said in a company statement on April 29 that it “cannot make any ‘final’ decisions” on what to do, but added that “cost increases due to higher tariffs will eventually cause price increases”.

    Target CEO Brian Cornell said on May 21 that price hikes were a “very last resort” for the company as it sought to deal with the cost of higher tariffs.

    On Sunday, Trump said his tariff policies were aimed at promoting the reshoring of hi-tech products, rather than clothing and footwear, to America. “We’re not looking to make sneakers and T-shirts,” he said. “We can do that very well in other locations. We are looking to do chips and computers and lots of other things, and tanks and ships.”

    Tyler Durden Mon, 06/02/2025 - 14:05
  49. Site: LifeNews
    1 week 2 days ago
    Author: Alliance Defending Freedom

    Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed their opening brief Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Wuoti v. Winters. ADF attorneys represent two Vermont families who had their foster-care licenses revoked by the state because of their religious beliefs.

    Despite a track record of success and high praise from social workers who knew Brian and Katy Wuoti and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt, Vermont’s Department for Children and Families revoked their foster-care licenses after the couples expressed their religiously inspired and widely held belief that girls cannot become boys or vice versa. The state applies this policy categorically—prohibiting families with these views from caring for any child, even if they sought to care for a relative, provide respite care for an infant for just one day, or care for a child who shared their faith.

    “Vermont’s foster-care system is in crisis: There aren’t enough families to care for vulnerable kids including many victims of the state’s opioid crisis. Yet Vermont is putting its ideological agenda ahead of the needs of these suffering kids,” said ADF Senior Counsel Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse. “The Wuoti and Gantt families have adopted five beautiful children between them, including children with special needs. Now Vermont says they’re unfit to parent any child because of their widely held religious beliefs about human sexuality. We’re urging the 2nd Circuit to protect the constitutional right of citizens caring for suffering children.”

    LifeNews is on TruthSocial. Please follow us here.

    The state’s foster-care system has more children in need than families willing to care for them, and officials have even had to place some children in institutions and unlicensed placements, including hospitals and police stations, to fill the gap. To help meet this need, the Wuotis became foster parents in 2014 and adopted two brothers from foster care. The Gantts became foster parents in 2016 and focused on caring for children born with drug dependencies or with fetal alcohol syndrome. The Gantts have since adopted three children.

    Vermont officials described the couples as “amazing,” “wonderful,” “kind,” and “welcoming.” Yet the state revoked both families’ licenses when they expressed their religious belief that a person should live consistent with their sex and marriage is the union of one man and one woman. According to the state, that made them “unqualified” to parent any child regardless of the child’s age, beliefs, or identity. Vermont will not license these families to provide any type of foster care or even respite care. As the opening brief explains, this exclusion burdens constitutional rights as much as it needlessly deprives children of loving homes.

    “In the Green Mountain State, families must be ‘holistically affirming and supporting’ of a child’s sexual identity and gender expression ‘even if the foster parents hold divergent personal opinions or beliefs,’” the brief states. “This requires foster parents to speak words like chosen pronouns and to attend events like pride parades. They must also refrain from exposing children to the view that sex is fixed and cannot be changed. The goal is to suppress ideas and viewpoints with which Vermont disagrees—exactly what the First Amendment prohibits.”

    “Every family comes with a unique religious or cultural background, and Vermont concedes it does not force others to ‘compro­mise their own beliefs,’” the brief continues. “Yet on this one issue, Vermont demands uniformity—excluding anyone who holds a different view.”

    The post Foster Parents Challenge Vermont Policy Essentially Prohibiting Christians From Adopting appeared first on LifeNews.com.

  50. Site: Euthanasia Prevention Coalition
    1 week 2 days ago

    Testimony in opposition to Oregon SB 1003
    Sharon Quick, MD, MA (Bioethics)
    President, Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation
    Expertise: Pediatric Anesthesiology/Critical Care, Medical Ethics
    Senate Rules Committee June 2, 2025

    I am Dr. Sharon Quick, President of the Physicians for Compassionate Care Education Foundation (PCCEF), an organization without religious or political affiliation. We advocate for the vulnerable terminally ill, promoting good palliative care. I have expertise in pediatric anesthesiology, critical care, and medical ethics. We oppose SB 1003-A Engrossed. Please see the following reasons for our opposition.

    1. Reducing the waiting period to 7 days from 15 days (p. 5, lines 27-31, 40-43) does not allow adequate time to fully assess a patient who may be suffering from complex emotional/mental health/existential problems that can worsen physical pain. Mental health problems and deficits in decision-making capacity are common in the terminally ill but often missed by physicians. This bill devalues vulnerable patients suffering from disabilities—such as mental health problems, lack of capacity, psychological distress over loss of function—that will not be uncovered due to inadequate time for assessment. Nor is there time for patients to change their minds, which they often do.
    a. It is unclear why there is a need to reduce the waiting period. No dying patient should have unbearable pain. Such a complaint indicates the clinician lacks knowledge about the management of complex pain—an unawareness that is far too common. Lethal drugs are a poor solution for lack of education of clinicians. Furthermore, patients in significant pain have compromised capacity to choose, invalidating consent for lethal drugs.
    b. Lethal drugs do not guarantee a peaceful death; there are many contraindications and side effects to these mouth-burning, experimental concoctions. Palliative care can ensure a peaceful death to a far greater degree than lethal drugs.2. There are good medical reasons to DISALLOW lethal drugs the closer a patient gets to death, but this bill authorizes the opposite (waiving the waiting period for patients close to death)—and allows this difficult determination by one clinician, without any defined expertise, and without a second opinion. (p. 5, lines 44-45 to p. 6, lines 1-4) PATIENTS WITHIN A WEEK OF DEATH USUALLY HAVE COMPROMISED MENTAL CAPACITY AND INABILITY TO INGEST LIQUIDS, MAKING CONSENT UNLIKELY AND INGESTION DANGEROUS.

    3. Shortening and/or eliminating the waiting period provide a mechanism for anyone, whether terminally ill or not, to access lethal drugs through voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED). This is happening in OR, but physicians have not been sanctioned for this abuse.
    a. Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) has been used as a “bridge” to prescription of lethal drugs in Oregon. In 2023, Oregon resident Cody Sontag, decided to commit suicide via VSED to prevent her dementia from advancing. On her fifth day of VSED, a physician assessed Cody as “terminally ill” due to dehydration, and a consulting physician concurred through telehealth. The physician determined that Cody would die within 15 days and waived her waiting period; she died by lethal drug ingestion 2 days later. This action is in clear violation of Oregon’s law which defines terminal illness as an “incurable and irreversible disease.” Dehydration is neither incurable nor irreversible, nor is it a “disease.” Additionally, dehydration reduces cognition, and this is worsened by a baseline of dementia; it is unlikely that Cody had sufficient decision-making capacity to make her consent valid. VSED could potentially be used in this way for any adult for any reason. In 2024, 179 patients (29% of those who received lethal drug prescriptions) had their waiting periods waived. How many of these patients had an induced “bridge” to lethal prescriptions like Cody? No one, including physicians, should be granted god-like powers to decide which disabilities make life worthless and to assist with termination of those so judged.4. The bill removes the requirement for the second opinion to include evaluating patient capacity, absence of coercion, and a fully informed decision. (p. 3, lines 42-43; p. 4, lines 35-40) These are potentially more difficult assessments than determining the presence of a terminal disease, and a second opinion should be mandatory for those assessments.

    5. Requiring health care facilities and hospice programs to publicly disclose their positions on participation in assisted suicide may be a conscience violation. Assisted suicide is not considered a medical procedure but unethical patient abandonment by most physicians and health care practitioners in the world. Requiring health care facilities or programs to make statements about their degree of involvement with it has the effect of making those facilities appear to agree that assisted suicide is a medical practice, even when they do not agree that it is. This is a conscience violation.

    6. Changing the word “physician” to “practitioner” is confusing and unnecessary if only physicians are allowed to prescribe lethal drugs. The obvious reason for this word change is to set the stage to allow non-physicians, such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants to prescribe lethal drugs by a simple definition change of “practitioner” in line 42 on page 2 (p. 2, Sec. 3, lines 8-9, 15-17, 42). Vulnerable patients wanting to hasten death with lethal drugs risk their lives on the decisions made--they deserve the highest level of expertise from physicians. Reasons to not open the door to non-physicians:
    a. Proponents have stated that rural areas lack physicians willing to prescribe lethal drugs, and advocate allowing non-physicians to participate to expand access in these areas. However, both rural access to palliative care and the number of palliative care prescribers are estimated to be insufficient to meet Oregon’s needs.1 It is a disservice to patients to potentially make lethal drugs more accessible than palliative care.
    b. Medicare requires that a physician, not other types of clinicians, certify that a patient is terminally ill for hospice admission.
        i. Although physicians are frequently wrong about a 6-months prognosis, there is evidence that physicians are more accurate than nurses in prognoses.
        ii. Physicians often miss depression2 and deficits in decision-making capacity3; those with lesser qualifications should not make such judgments.
        iii. The training of physician assistants (PAs) is insufficient in end-of-life care, evaluating a patient’s decision-making capacity, determining prognosis for terminal illness, or deciding that death is imminent.47. Given the current abuse of Oregon’s law, allowing it to function as a mechanism for termination of people who may not be terminally ill or may be under coercion, please oppose SB 1003, which drops further safeguards. Instead, perhaps further safeguards and better oversight need to be put in place.
    a. VSED, as described in #3 above, is being used as a way for non-terminally ill patients to obtain lethal drug prescriptions.
    b. In Oregon, patients are getting lethal prescriptions for diagnoses of anorexia, hernia, and arthritis (Oregon 2021 Data Summary, p. 14, footnote 3)—diagnoses that are not terminal by themselves—but there is no process for challenging physician actions. Oregon, California, and Colorado have unethically provided lethal drugs to patients with eating disorders.
    c. Thomas Middleton, a terminally ill Oregon resident, moved in with the trustee of his estate and then died by physician-assisted suicide in 2008. The trustee sold his house and deposited the money in her account; she was arrested on theft and criminal mistreatment charges, but whether physicians had inappropriately prescribed lethal drugs (by not properly investigating coercion) was never investigated.NOTES
    1. Only 40% of rural and 32% of suburban areas have access to hospital-based palliative care—numbers which are below both the national and Pacific region averages. (Link)
    2. Oregon patients with depression have died from lethal prescriptions. Ganzini, L., E. R. Goy, and S. K. Dobscha. "Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety in Patients Requesting Physicians' Aid in Dying: Cross Sectional Survey." Bmj 337 (2008): a1682.
    3. One study found that about 90% of cancer patients had deficits on some subscale of decision-making capacity, but the majority of physicians missed these deficits. Kolva, E., B. Rosenfeld, and R. Saracino. "Assessing the Decision-Making Capacity of Terminally Ill Patients with Cancer." Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 26, no. 5 (May 2018): 523-531. (Link).
    4. As of 2023 only 227 PAs (0.2%) in the nation had specialty training in hospice and palliative care. This bill does not distinguish between PAs with experience/expertise and those without. (Link), p. 6

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