This Week‘s Featured Article

Marriage/Family

8 Places To Start For The ‘Children First’ Agenda We Desperately Need.

For years, children en masse were put on the bottom of the priority list. Children are falling behind in education and key developmental milestones, mood disorders and loneliness are up, and suicide ideation has risen dramatically. Families are more broken and dysfunctional than in previous decades, and nearly 400,000 children are in foster care.

We should all agree there is no greatness in sacrificing the welfare of the vulnerable, yet where are the children specifically in today’s list of political priorities? If there was ever a political cause that could get us to sacrifice a bit more, to reach more earnestly across the aisle, and to risk our careers, it should be our children. Read more

Democrat Calls Advocacy for Natural Family ‘Dangerous and Un-American’.

“Extremist group Family Heritage Alliance said this morning that the safest place for kids are in families that have a married mom and dad. What a dangerous and un-American belief,” tweeted State Representative Erin Healy (D) on Monday.

She had apparently been triggered by testimony offered on behalf of the natural family by the South Dakota family policy council. “In committee we made the claim that the home of a married mother and father is statistically the safest place for a child, and we stand by it 100%. We know that a strong, nuclear family is the safest, most beneficial place for a child to be. Research confirms our claim,” Family Heritage Alliance Director Norman Woods told The Washington Stand. Read more

Want a happy marriage? Don’t stop dating.

When couples marry, they shouldn’t leave behind one important prenuptial practice.

Married couples who have frequent date nights say they’re happier with their relationship and have higher levels of sexual satisfaction, according to a new report, “The Date Night Opportunity,” from the National Marriage Project and the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University. Read more

Parenting/Parental Rights

We Don’t Have A Mental Health Crisis. We Have A Lifestyle Crisis.

We don’t have a mental health crisis as much as we have a lifestyle crisis. That’s not to deny that people are seriously suffering, which is as fundamental to the human experience as pleasure. But everyone seems oblivious as to why they suffer.

Our ruling class of elites profits most when we’re chronically fat, sick, and depressed, so they keep us hooked on pills engineered by Big Pharma, eager to capitalize on every ailment from anxiety to obesity. A culture allergic to personal responsibility and honest self-reflection (or really any self-awareness) seems to ignore the possibility that anxious and depressed people might have their own mentality to blame for at least some of their problems. Read more

Education freedom for all students is under attack in Arizona.

Last year, Arizona became the first state to adopt a universal school choice voucher program , building on its decades long legacy as a pioneer in educational opportunity — a legacy that is particularly beneficial for minority students.

Now that she’s been sworn in as Arizona’s new governor, Hobbs is asking the legislature to repeal the program , proposing to redirect the money back to the state’s sclerotic public school system. Lawmakers should reject this request out of hand for the sake of Arizona’s children, especially black and brown children. Read more

Connecticut Lawmakers Move To Block Parents From Seeing Teacher-Student Communications.

Policymakers in Connecticut are placing metaphorical “Parents Not Welcome” signs on our state’s classroom doors by allowing teachers to avoid Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests about their communications with students.

Since this legislative session began on Jan. 4, the majority party in the General Assembly has introduced multiple bills which they say are to protect teachers from “harassment” based on ideological differences. They also aim to limit parental access to teacher-student communications. Read more

Sanctity of Life

Colombian euthanasia cases rise steeply.

Although its legal status is murky, cases of euthanasia have been rising steadily in Colombia of the past 7 years. The legality of euthanasia is very ambiguous. As long ago as 1997, the Constitutional Court declared that euthanasia was constitutional. This left Colombia in the unusual situation of having constitutional protection for euthanasia, but having criminal penalties for assisting a suicide. In 2022, it decriminalised assisted suicide.

According to the right-to-die group DescLab, in 2015 there were 4 euthanasia deaths; in 2021 there were 95. In the 10 months to October 31, 2022, there were 99. Read more

Catholic man accuses Canadian hospital of pressuring him to euthanize wife.

Having himself experienced the hospital’s push for euthanasia, Leskun felt the need to share an insider’s perspective out of concern for others who may have loved ones in hospitals where euthanasia is being promoted or suggested.

“Now that the health system offers both death and life, you must speak strongly and clearly if you want life,” he advised. “Ensure that your primary care doctor believes in your principles and is willing to act powerfully to negotiate for the care you need.” Read more

Utah Bill Would Close Abortion Clinics in the State by 2024.

Lisonbee proposed the bill as the state’s near-total abortion ban faces legal challenges from pro-abortion advocates. The bill would also make it a criminal offense for anyone other than doctors licensed in Utah to prescribe abortion pills. Read more

Religion

Mexican court rules against pro-family leader who called a trans woman legislator a man.

In a Feb. 2 statement, the court said that Cortés and the FNF “committed political violence against women based on gender due to various posts on social media and the internet against the federal congresswoman, Salma Luévano, and trans women.”To the Specialized Chamber, “the reported expressions were offensive and discriminatory by rejecting the gender identity and devaluing the performance of the federal congresswoman, which constituted digital, symbolic, psychological, and sexual violence against her.” Read more

Nicaragua’s government is relentlessly persecuting opponents, especially the Catholic Church.

Nigeria, China and Pakistan are not the only countries where Christians are persecuted today. In Nicaragua, a Central American republic of about 6 million, the government is savagely suppressing dissent.

The President, Daniel Ortega, views the Catholic Church as a threat to his increasingly dictatorial hold on the country has governed since 2006. Late last year he gave an extraordinary speech denouncing it as a “perfect dictatorship”.

“Who elects the priests, who elects the bishops, who elects the pope, the cardinals, how many votes, who gives them to them? If they are going to be democratic, let Catholic vote … It is a dictatorship, a perfect dictatorship, a perfect tyranny,” he said. Read more

UK police drops charges against woman who silently prayed near abortion clinic.

The charges against the UK director of March for Life for praying silently near an abortion clinic, have been discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was searched and arrested last December by the police in an abortion clinic buffer zone in Birmingham, and charged with “protesting and engaging in an act that is intimidating to service users”, despite the clinic being closed. Read more

Sexuality

Sweden ‘detransitions’ its policies: no more puberty blockers for minors.

The Nordic country had been a reference in its liberal approach to gender reassignment practices, but much began to change in 2020.

The huge increase of a 1,500% increase between 2008 and 2018 in gender dysphoria cases among girls aged 13 to 17, and the growing number of “detransitioners” (people who regreted the negative effects invasive medical practices had had on their bodies), have forced health experts to raise the voice of alarm. Read more

Fearless Athletes Celebrate a Rematch for Girls’ Sports in Federal Court.

“I thought surely there would be someone, whether that be a coach, or another swimmer, or someone within the NCAA — I thought surely someone would stick up for us.” For the University of Kentucky’s Riley Gaines, that was the moment she realized: they were on their own. The teams forced to swim against Lia Thomas, a biological man, had no other choice but to speak up themselves or lose everything they’d worked for. “It kind of hit me. If we, as women, were not willing to stick up for ourselves, how can we expect someone else to?” Read more

San Francisco Leaders Invite Sex & Drug Tourism.

A progressive San Francisco politician is proposing that California legalize sex work. Though Supervisor Hillary Ronen’s proposal is just a resolution, not a mandate, it’s part of a continuing trend in the city and state of liberalization and decriminalization of prostitution.

But if California and San Francisco legalize prostitution, it will likely exacerbate sex trafficking, including of minors, say experts. “If we do that, this gives total leeway to the traffickers to exploit minors,” said Elizabeth Quiroz, who was sex trafficked in San Francisco. “If you legalize it, you increase demand and so you have to increase supply.” Read more