Global Respect

Penna Dexter The U.S House of Representatives just passed a bill called the Global Respect Act. Supporters say it is meant to protect and foster respect for human rights in foreign countries. But it does the opposite. The bill elevates the so-called human rights of some individuals — those who identify as homosexual or transgender — over the rights of…

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Pre-K Study

Penna Dexter Following the Biden administration’s admission that its Build Back Better Plan is dead, there’s an effort to resurrect parts of this massive social spending bill. One goal is the White House’s proposal for a “transformational investment” — $200 billion — for free universal pre-K for 3 and 4-year-old children. The plan is modeled on the Head Start program…

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Sweet Cakes Case

Penna Dexter There’s a development in the heart-rending case involving Christian bakers, Aaron and Melissa Klein. The Kleins were the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, located in downtown Gresham, Oregon. Their bakery is closed now because Oregon officials imposed a $135,000 financial penalty on the Kleins for declining to create a custom cake for a same-sex union ceremony. When…

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Kids’ Vaccine Mandates

Penna Dexter The COVID-19 vaccine was approved for children 5 and older on an emergency basis at the end of October. Immediately, talk of mandates began. Several experts on an FDA advisory panel warned against mandating the shot for kids. But some bureaucrats have already succumbed to what National Review’s Rich Lowry calls “the irresistible urge of officialdom in blue…

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Mail-Order Abortion

Penna Dexter Most people don’t know this, but roughly half of abortions performed today are not done surgically. They are chemical abortions. Last month the Food and Drug Administration officially made it much easier to procure such abortions. The chemical abortion is approved to be used during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. It involves a two-step process, which causes…

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Kids Will Pay

Penna Dexter Panelists on the year-end edition of CBS’s “Face the Nation” were asked to identify what they think is the most under-reported story of the year. Correspondent Jan Crawford’s choice was “the crushing impact that our COVID policies have had on young kids and children.” These policies, she said, have been implemented despite the fact that children face “the…

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COVID-Style Family Formation

Penna Dexter New research on family life shows that COVID-19 has exacerbated a growing divide in family formation, with higher-income, better-educated Americans more interested in getting married and having children than those with less education and lower incomes. Marriage rates are falling. Birth and fertility rates are at record lows. The fertility rate is only about 1.7 children per woman….

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Prayer For 2022

Penna Dexter My prayer for 2022 is that Christians across America would have courage. When a person chooses to be the best person he or she can possibly be when the consequences for doing that could be very harmful to them — that’s courage. Principled Christians can be cancelled, lose jobs, even face criminal penalties for standing against evil and…

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Problem of Passivity

Penna Dexter The Institute for Family Studies and the Wheatly Foundation recently published a report about Americans’ attitudes regarding marriage and child-rearing. Its title is, “The Divided State of Our Unions: Family Formation in (Post-) Covid-19 America.” It shows the “desire to marry” has ticked up a bit overall since the onset of Covid, while “the desire to have a…

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Will Roe Go?

Penna Dexter After oral arguments in an abortion clinic’s challenge to Mississippi’s law banning most abortions before 15 weeks gestation, the question has become: Will Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey stay or go? The Chief Justice hinted at the possibility of a narrower ruling. But attorneys for the abortion clinic and for the Biden administration argued for…

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Eric Carle

Penna Dexter Of the books around my house meant for grandkids, Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar has been read the most. Often, several times at one sitting. The babies want to poke their little fingers through the nibble holes in the various foods the caterpillar eats. The older ones want to count the fruits, identify the days the caterpillar…

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