Weekly News & Opinion Roundup
This week’s important, interesting, and widely-discussed news articles
I often mention to friends an article I read this week. Here is a faster way for them to find those articles. I do NOT endorse everything that is said in these articles and posting here is not an endorsement of the articles themselves nor their authors.
They Wanted a Nicer, Softer, Fuzzier Holocaust — Marc Pitzke & Art Spiegelman [Note: some strong language]
They said they did want to teach the Holocaust. But the impression I got from their language was that they wanted a nicer, softer, fuzzier Holocaust than I'm presenting.
“Let the Little Children Come To Me” — Kevin DeYoung
As a pastor, I’ve conducted funerals for newborns who lived but a few hours, I’ve visited with families upon the news that the pregnancy would not make it to term, and I’ve sat with numerous couples who grieved their miscarriage. My wife and I have known that pain ourselves. In every case, the tears tell us what we already know: The baby in the womb is not a mere fetus, a potential human being whose worth depends upon our choice, but a precious child ready to be nurtured, supported, and loved.
Treating ectopic pregnancies still legal in states where abortion banned, despite viral misinformation — Jessica Chasmar
“All of those states include exemptions for medical emergencies and allow abortions to be performed if the mother’s life is at risk. Many states also have laws specifically exempting treatment for ectopic pregnancies under the states’ abortion statutes. Additionally, federal law currently requires the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide abortion medication in limited circumstances, including rape, incest or if the life of the woman is in danger.”
What the reactions to Clarence Thomas post-Roe reveal about white liberals — Musa al-Gharbi
Instead, the reactions many contemporary liberals have directed toward Thomas for diverging from their preferred policies on abortion — including an unabashed embrace of racial epithets and slurs, in the name of social justice advocacy no less! — seem to be a clear vindication of Black nationalists’ longstanding suspicion that, at bottom, many self-described “allies” are themselves deeply racist and simply use the Black cause as a convenient vehicle for shoring up their own power and influence.
Christianity and American Identity — Paul Miller
Nor is this recent: American Christians have long merged their religious faith with American identity. In the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, Americans regularly described the United States as a “new Israel”; in the twentieth century, as a “Christian nation.” When they do so, they are expressing a collection of beliefs: that to be a faithful Christian in America, one must be loyal to the American nation; that the American nation is defined in part by Christian values and Christian culture; that it is, in some sense, the outworking of Christianity in political form; that it may enjoy a special relationship with God; and that American Christians should ensure their government keeps Christianity as the predominant ordering framework for our public life. American national identity has long been defined by many Americans to include Christianity as a necessary part of it.
MyPillow guy Suggests Idaho Election Fraud, Again — Carolyn Komatsoulis
Questioning the legitimacy of a vote can lead to questioning the winner’s legitimacy in office, Luna said, which is why Idaho was proactive in doing the audits.
“We can’t get into this pattern that every time there’s an election and we don’t like the results that we question whether there was integrity,” Luna said. “Not only will people begin to lose confidence in the election results but it removes the legitimate concerns that can be raised if there is an issue.”
Idaho Lt. Governor Defers Pay After Office Ends Fiscal Year With 72 Cents — Jake Thomas
However, McGeachin in April brushed off a request from state budget officials describing how she'd avoid a shortfall as a rather "pointless formality," reports Boise State Public Radio.
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A central reason for McGeachin's budget woes is the Idaho Press Club winning a lawsuit last year over the release of records related to a task force her office assembled to look into indoctrination in Idaho schools, according to the Statesman.
Why I’m Leaving the University — Joseph H. Manson
“[A document condemning a professor] contains no trace of scholarly argument, but instead resembles a religious proclamation of anathema….”
“….one colleague told a meeting of the biological anthropology subfield that he regarded the GRE as the most informative part of an applicant’s dossier, but that we had no choice but to vote to stop requiring it, because otherwise we would be regarded as racists….”
“….Is this a threat to pressure course instructors in the life sciences and social sciences to deny the human sex binary? The experience of former Penn State evolutionary biology postdoc, now Substack writer, Colin Wright (although unconnected with UCLA), suggests that it might be. For arguing against assertions that “biological sex is a continuous spectrum [and] that notions of male and female may be mere social constructs,” Wright’s academic career was derailed by an online mob….”
“….A 2019 article by Liel Leibovitz, titled “Get Out,” argued that the increasingly open hostility of American universities toward Jews is inseparable from the universities’ increasingly brazen rejection of two values that, during the 20th Century, made them into places where Jews specifically, and curious, ambitious, and open-minded people generally, could thrive: meritocracy and free debate….”
Jan. 6 panel member ‘surprised’ by prosecutors’ reaction to Hutchinson testimony — Caroline Vakil
“We’re not an arm of the Department of Justice. We’re a legislative committee. They have subpoena power. They could subpoena Ms. Hutchinson. I’m surprised they had not done so. We interviewed her four times. I think that’s publicly known at this point. And the fourth interview was very compelling,” she added.
Oregon Health Officials Delayed a Meeting Because 'Urgency Is a White Supremacy Value' — Robby Soave
Highland Park shooting suspect's past littered with 'red flags' — Safia Samee Ali, Natasha Korecki and Corky Siemaszko
“That doesn’t surprise me because when Bobby puts his mind to doing something he goes all out and will do anything to make it happen,” Pacileo said. “I think it was like years of trauma, psychedelic drug abuse, you know, that just had him seeing a version of reality that was not ours.”
July 4 parade shooting suspect slipped past Illinois "red flag" safeguards — Brendan O'Brien and Steve Gorman
But Reinhart, the state's attorney who charged Crimo on Tuesday, was at a loss to explain how Crimo could be permitted to legally obtain weapons without the alleged 2019 threat and "clear and present danger" report triggering the state's "red flag" measures.
The Psychology Behind Fake News
But although the term “fake news” reflects our troubled political moment, the phenomenon is nothing new, and neither is the psychology that explains its persistence.