News and Views from around the World
Jihad on churches in France
It would seem that a full-blown jihad has been declared on the churches of France, and the country's leadership is looking the other way.
A map, published by Christianophobie.fr, which marks with a red pin every spot where a church in France was attacked between just 2017–2018, looks like a war zone.
Virtually the entire map of France is covered in red.
Excerpt from Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute (New York), November 22, 2023.
Canada's assisted dying horror
Lovely, liberal Canada legalised medical assistance in dying (MAID) in 2016, but only for people with terminal illness. Sure enough, two years ago Canada expanded the law to encompass people who had non-terminal conditions. As of 2024 the criteria will expand again, this time to take in people whose sole underlying condition is mental illness.
You could see this coming. After all, we live in an era which — rightly or wrongly — sees mental illness as being on a par with physical illness. Politicians, celebrities and even royals have spent recent years doing their level best to raise awareness of mental illness and stress how debilitating it can be. All of which may be true. But that ground starts to move awfully fast once a state has said that incurable physical ailments are enough to send you to the knacker's yard.
It all starts from such a kindly place. It's all about bodily autonomy, you see, and freedom — including freedom of choice. That's why the Canadian government is giving out information for all those who will become eligible for euthanasia in March.
It reads like the preparation for the starting-gun of the world's greatest race.
Excerpt from Douglas Murray, The Spectator (UK), July 22, 2023.
I'm a stay-at-home mum. Stop telling me
I'm 'letting down the sisterhood'.
Do you value care work, paid or unpaid? Do you believe that work should be supported? Do you believe that a woman's contribution to society is inherently different, but not less valuable than, a man's contribution to society?
If you answered yes to those questions, you might be a "care feminist".
Care feminists believe true equality can only be attained by appropriately valuing and supporting care work rather than simply enabling people to avoid it. They believe that ultimately the emancipation of women relies on the freedom to choose to perform both paid and unpaid work without penalty.
I became a care feminist when the doctor pulled my first born out of a six-inch incision in my abdomen. On experiencing childbirth, breastfeeding and the care of babies first-hand
I realised that due to my body parts my contribution to society could never be exactly the same as a man's. Not less, just different. I also gained a better appreciation of how incredibly challenging, important and rewarding the work of care is.
Excerpt from Virginia Tapscott, Mamamia (Sydney), October 3, 2023.
China sees fentanyl as war
with U.S. by other means
China's Communist regime thinks it is already at war with the U.S. Take the case of fentanyl, one of dozens of opioids that gangs design and make in laboratories in China. The Chinese surveillance state knows and approves of the activities of the drug gangs, and Beijing also gives them diplomatic support. Moreover, Chinese central government and Communist Party media outlets support their crimes.
Furthermore, Chinese "money brokers", using Chinese banking apps, launder fentanyl proceeds through China's state banking system. The Communist Party of China now operates a near-total surveillance state and tightly controls all of its banks, so no one could transfer sums through their networks without the knowledge and cooperation of the regime.
Beijing, unsurprisingly, has not cooperated with American efforts to stop fentanyl trafficking. So far, federal authorities have prosecuted and imprisoned Chinese individuals handling fentanyl and other drug money. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have tried, to no avail, to talk with Xi Jinping about ending fentanyl production.
Excerpt from Gordon G. Chang, Gatestone Institute (New York), October 30, 2023.
Has Iceland discovered secret
of keeping teens off drugs?
Iceland has produced some impressive statistics. From 1998 to 2016, the percentage of 15-16-year-old Icelandic youth who used cannabis fell from 17 percent to five percent. The percentage of youth who were drunk in the past 30 days dropped from 42 percent to five percent. Daily cigarette smoking decreased from 23 percent to three percent.
What produced these phenomenal results? Back in the '90s, these stats were rising at an alarming rate. Policy-makers, practitioners, and researchers decided they needed to do something to reverse this trend. So, they came up with a new approach.
A healthy dialogue between research, policy and practice is one of the three pillars of the Icelandic model. The other pillars are evidence-based practice and using a community-based approach.
These pillars are put into practice with a "Life and Living Conditions of Youth" annual survey. Teens 10 to 16 years of age complete this comprehensive survey each year (with an 85–87 percent response rate). This information is analysed to show what factors are the strongest predictors of substance abuse.
Within about two months, the data is processed and the report is shared with municipalities. Researchers are in regular communication with contacts in each municipality to inform them about the latest research and data. When the annual report comes in, researchers go through the data with them. These contacts then gather practitioners such as healthcare workers, teachers, politicians, parents and others from the community to talk about the current situation — what children are feeling, where they're struggling, what's on the rise, etc. These groups take action as soon as possible in order to intervene in problem areas.
Based on their results, this system is working.
Excerpt from American Addiction Centers blog (Brentwood, Tennessee), January 24, 2023.
