MICRO-PREEMIE BORN AT 23 WEEKS CELEBRATES HIS FIRST BIRTHDAY
from: LiveAction News

(25 Jan.) A micro-preemie who was born at just 23 weeks is celebrating a big milestone with his family – his first birthday. When Amandi Omokore-Allen was born in Austin, Texas, on January 10, 2022, he faced just a 10% chance of survival.

"He was under a pound-and-a-half and 23 weeks and two days," Samantha Smith, a neonatal nurse practitioner at Pediatrix Neonatology of Texas and Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin, told Fox News Digital.

Amandi’s parents, Tolulope Omokore and Patrick Allen, had already undergone quite an ordeal. Pregnant with twins, Tolulope started experiencing spotting when she was 22.5 weeks pregnant, and soon learned that Amandi’s brother had passed away. Doctors put Tolulope on bedrest immediately in the hopes of prolonging the life of the other twin in utero for as long as possible.

"There were a lot of emotions," Tolulope said. "The doctors told us, 'Hey, you’re going to be here until you give birth' – which we hoped would be May. In my mind, I'm talking to Amandi, saying, ‘Please just stay in there.'" Despite all the medical efforts, little Amandi was born just a week later, weighing one pound five ounces.

After Amandi was born, Tolulope was able to deliver the body of her other child, Asaiah. "It was a very bittersweet moment," she said. "I was able to hold Asaiah, but they took Amandi straight from me to the incubator because, of course, every second counts. And I'm thinking, I've just lost one – am I going to lose both of them?"

In an August statement, Pediatrix Medical Group detailed Amandi's uphill battle. "Amandi was quite ill in the beginning," the hospital said. "Initially, he was on a ventilator, and he had pneumothorax, requiring a chest tube. He also had some feeding intolerance in need of continuous gavage feeds, he developed pneumonia about six weeks in and he had a pulmonary hemorrhage."

Despite his rough beginning, Amandi pulled through. After 155 days in the NICU, he was able to go home with his family in June. "Everyone was clapping and crying," Tolulope said. "I was hugging everyone. And I was thinking about Asaiah as well."

Now, celebrating his first birthday, Amandi continues to make gains. "He's in the 43rd percentile in weight," Tolulope said. "The pulmonologist was showing me his chart – and just to think, he started at that 1-pound mark."

Smith, who cared for Amandi in the NICU, spoke of his progress. "Cases like Amandi's give me all the warmth in my heart to keep going, because we are faced with losses in that 22-to-23-week gestation mark, which have a huge impact on us," she said. "So, when you see an extremely premature baby thrive the way Amandi has, it reminds us why we do what we do and how important our work is to so many babies and their families!" [read more...]

COMMENTARY: We are very happy that baby Amandi survived – we wouldn't wish it to be any other way. But are there other things to consider, such as: for the cost of his 153 days in neonatal care, how many other babies – or elderly, or diabetics, etc. – could have been saved? See "Our Views" at the end of this ARC-News on "The Tragedy of Triage."

JAPANESE PM SAYS THAT HIS COUNTRY IS FALLING OFF A DEMOGRAPHIC CLIFF
from: BioEdge.org

(24 Jan.) Japan's Prime Minister has warned that his country will fall over an economic and social cliff unless it manages to reverse its population decline. "Our country is on the brink of being unable to maintain the functions of society," said Fumio Kishida at beginning of this year's Diet session.

The number of births in 2022 is below 800,000. In 1973, at the peak of the baby boom, 2.09 million children were born. Japan's population continues to fall. In 2020, researchers predicted that Japan's population would decline from 128 million in 2017 to less than 53 million in 2100.

More kids will be the "top priority" for his administration, said Mr Kishida. He plans to splash money to "create a children-first economy and society. "Policies on children and child care are the most effective investment for the future," he told the Diet. He will provide an additional 80,000 yen (US$592) annually to couples who have a child.

"This is not going to magically solve the problems that Japan, as a nation, faces," Noriko Hama, an economist at Doshisha University in Kyoto, told Deutsche Welle. "It is not a question of just throwing money at young couples and expecting them to have more children. It is a matter of poor social infrastructure that allows people to feel safe enough to have children."

"At the moment, people are unhappy with the environment that they will have to raise a child in and until that improves, the birth rate will not recover," she said.

Immigration is unlikely to stop the decline in xenophobic Japan. The BBC’s Japan correspondent, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, is married to a Japanese woman and has three children. He remarks caustically, "If you want to see what happens to a country that rejects immigration as a solution to falling fertility, Japan is a good place to start. Real wages haven’t grown here in 30 years. Incomes in South Korea and Taiwan have caught up and even overtaken Japan." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: See "Our Views" at the end of this ARC-News on "The Tragedy of Triage" and the consequences of "looking out for number one." Young people have all sorts of reasons for not having kids: the economy, or global threat of war, or the environment, or "I'm LGBT" ...but the result will be the same: collapse of civilized society. For millenia, people have followed God's command to Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply," but now they just don't seem to understand or care. Who's going to care for you when you're old and gray?

UKRAINE: FIRST KNOWN WARTIME CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR IS JAILED
from: Forum 18 News Service

Hebrews 13:3 - "Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body."

(17 Jan.) 46-year-old Christian Vitaly Alekseenko expects to be taken to begin his one-year jail term on 19 January. On 16 January, Ivano-Frankivsk Appeal Court rejected his appeal against his conviction for refusing call up to the military on conscientious grounds. His is the fifth known Ukrainian court conviction since Russia renewed its invasion – the other four men received suspended sentences. "I told the court I agree that I have broken the law of Ukraine," Alekseenko told Forum 18, "but I am not guilty under the law of God." He added that had he repented of his "crime," both the lower and the appeal court would have given him a suspended sentence.

For the first known time since Russia renewed its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine has jailed an individual for refusing on grounds of conscience a military call-up. On 16 January, the Appeal Court in the south-western city of Ivano-Frankivsk rejected the appeal by 46-year-old Christian Vitaly Alekseenko against his one-year jail term. When he gets the written verdict, which he expected on 19 January, the sentence will go into force and he expects to be taken to prison immediately afterwards.

Alekseenko told Forum 18 he would lodge a further appeal. However, such an appeal would not prevent the sentence now going into force. Yurii Sheliazhenko, secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, described the appeal court decision as "bad news." "It is a dangerous precedent that the appeal court upheld a sentence of imprisonment for a conscientious objector," he told Forum 18 from the capital Kyiv.

Alekseenko, an internally-displaced person from Donetsk Region, was summoned to the recruitment office in Ivano-Frankivsk in June 2022. He explained that because of his religious belief he cannot take up arms. He was refused alternative civilian service and his case was handed to prosecutors. On 15 September 2022, Ivano-Frankivsk City Court handed down the one-year jail term.

An official of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Recruitment Office, who refused to give his name, said he was not familiar with Alekseenko's case. "We're not competent to answer your questions," the official told Forum 18. "We generally offer alternative service to members of religious communities." The official refused to say how many men had been able to opt for alternative civilian service since the February 2022 renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine.

When Forum 18 asked the official why Alekseenko could not have been assigned an alternative civilian service in a needed occupation at a time of war, say at a hospital, the official did not explain why.

In four earlier criminal cases in 2022, courts handed conscientious objectors suspended prison sentences and terms of probation:
- 18 May 2022, Andrii Kucher, Mukachevo, suspended 4-year jail term;
- 21 June 2022, Dmytro Kucherov, Oleksandriia (Kirovohrad Region), suspended 3-year jail term;
- 17 August 2022, Oleksandr Korobko, Mukachevo, suspended 3-year jail term;
- 22 August 2022, Maryan Kapats, Mukachevo, suspended 3-year jail term.

Kucherov, a member of Source of Life Pentecostal Church, bases his objection to military service on his Christian faith. The court decisions in the other three cases describe only the individuals' conscientious objection to killing people.

Under a 10 November 1999 Cabinet of Ministers Decree, only men who belonged to 10 specified religious communities that the state recognizes as pacifist were allowed to opt for alternative civilian service. These communities are: Reformist Adventists; Seventh-day Adventists; Evangelical Christians; Evangelical Christians–Baptists; "The Penitents" or Slavic Church of the Holy Ghost; Jehovah's Witnesses; Charismatic Christian Churches (and associated churches under their registered statutes); Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith – Pentecostals (and associated churches under their registered statutes); Christians of Evangelical Faith; and Society for Krishna Consciousness. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: So because Vitaly Alekseenko, a Christian and aconscientious objector to killing, is being jailed because he is not a member of one of the above ten religious communities, is that not a form of religious discrimination? Does the state believe he is lying because he is not a member of one of the above ten religious communities and yet believes as a Christian "you shall not kill"? The Ten Commandments are respected by many other Christian communities, the last I heard.

STUDY: EVEN WITH A FIVEFOLD INCREASE, AUTISM IS LIKELY UNDERCOUNTED
from: Disability Scoop

(26 Jan.) New research suggests that autism prevalence rose as much as 500% in recent decades, but it still may be underdiagnosed.

In an analysis of data on 8-year-olds in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area between 2000 and 2016, researchers found that the number of children with autism and intellectual disability doubled over the time period. Among those without intellectual disability, however, the increase was fivefold.

Still, the study published online Thursday in the journal Pediatrics finds that disparities in diagnosis persist and many kids may remain overlooked. Children from affluent areas were 80% more likely than those from underserved areas to be flagged as having autism with no intellectual disability while Black children in this category were 30% less likely to be identified as compared to white kids.

"Better awareness of and testing for ASD does play a role," said Walter Zahorodny, an associate professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a senior author on the study. "But the fact that we saw a 500% increase in autism among kids without any intellectual disabilities – children we know are falling through the cracks – suggests that something else is also driving the surge."

The study is based on data from the New Jersey Autism Study, which looks at 8-year-olds in four New Jersey counties biannually as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's efforts to track autism prevalence. Across the 16-year study period, researchers found 4,661 kids with autism in the region, just over 32% of whom had co-occurring intellectual disability while the remainder did not.

"One of the assumptions about ASD is that it occurs alongside intellectual disabilities," said Josephine Shenouda, an adjunct professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and the lead author of the study, who pointed to older studies showing that as many as 75% of kids with autism have intellectual disability. "What our paper shows is that this assumption is not true."

Shenouda said the findings highlight how important it is to have early screening, identification and intervention and she said universal screening for autism is imperative, particularly in underserved communities. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: Is there something in the drinking water, something like manmade hormones, or radioactive waste, or other chemicals that is causing this increase in autism? Or is it an increased awareness and ability to diagnose this problem? It seems that it may be a little bit of both. If in the past, autism was equated with intellectual disability while some children who were considered "intelligent beyond their years" (like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, etc.) or just "a bright but problem child," could they nowadays be considered "autistic"? Also, Disability Scoop's article "Can Limiting Screen Time Improve Autism Symptoms?" says that cutting screen time down from 5.6 hours/week average to 1 hour/week substantially lowers symptoms of autism. Too many parents let the TV babysit their children!

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH: THE CHURCH OF RUSSIA HAS PAPAL CLAIMS, NOT THE ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine

(25 Jan.) A very interesting discussion took place at the event organized by the Organization for the Promotion of Greek and Orthodox Culture "Aenaos" at the Officers' Club, regarding the Autocephaly of Ukraine and the war of Russia against Ukraine.

The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in a video speech, stressed that the granting of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has nothing to do with geopolitical facts and with the unacceptable invasion of Russia in Ukraine.

The Ecumenical Patriarch stressed that the Church of Constantinople gave a helping hand to Russia to solve the Ukrainian issue, but the efforts did not work, due to the fault of the Russian side, which does not admit it.

"The leadership of the Church of Moscow is trying to impose a new ecclesiology which is overthrowing the ecclesiastical order on the basis of new data. But he must understand that the Ecumenical Patriarchate is the only guarantee for the unity of Orthodoxy. Without the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Orthodoxy will fall into the vortex of nationalisms, into the introversion of self-sufficiency, into the contempt of the modern world," he said.

He added that the Church of Russia continues to accuse the Ecumenical Patriarchate of being responsible for the tensions in Orthodox relations, while "it is Russia who creates the tensions, the one who entered the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Alexandria uncanonically, tarnishing the image of Orthodoxy in the eyes of the Christian world."

In his video message, the Ecumenical Patriarch stressed that the leadership of the Church of Russia considers that it was the intervention of the Ecumenical Patriarchate which created a schism in Orthodoxy. "For us, this is not true. The granting of autocephaly is an essential contribution to the unity of Orthodoxy as a practical expression of Orthodox ecclesiology and centuries-old ecclesiastical practice. It is the actions of the Church of Russia that threaten the unity of Orthodoxy and not the response of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the request of the Ukrainian people."

He stressed that it is the Church of Russia that has papal claims, not the Ecumenical Patriarchate. "Moscow does not recognize the right of Ukrainians to have an autocephalous church because it wants to oppress them, it wants to turn Orthodoxy into a confederation of Churches in order to have a say. Its overtly arrogant and hegemonic mentality will highlight the pivotal role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Orthodox discourse. The Autocephaly of Ukraine is a fait accompli of the Church and cannot be annulled by any propaganda or war. The Church of Russia is ruthlessly pursuing matricide. We are all witnessing the catastrophe unfolding on Ukrainian soil. A ceasefire must be reached immediately."

He called on all Orthodox Autocephalous Churches that have not already done so to proceed with the recognition of the Autocephalous Church of Ukraine. "We call on all Orthodox autocephalous churches that have not yet done so to proceed with the recognition, showing in this way their support to the suffering Ukrainian people, and the Church of Russia to apologize for what it has caused Orthodoxy."

"The hints of a link between the war and the granting of autocephaly are fictions of morbid imagination in order to cover up the crime currently being committed in Ukraine. The Orthodox Ukrainian people will never accept that their church should continue to be subordinated to the Patriarchate of Moscow which blessed the invasion of their homeland."

Archbishop Makarios of Australia, for his part, stressed that "what is happening today is the consequences of a sick ecclesiological situation. Since 1433, the Russians have tried every illegality they have committed to enveloping it with a certain spirituality and regularity."

"The Patriarch of Moscow presented the example of God, that God gave his Son to be sacrificed. And addressing the Russians, he called on them to sacrifice themselves in the war against Ukraine. Here we are talking about an ecclesiastical underworld, and all of this is trying to surround it with a non-existent spirituality."

Archbishop Makarios stressed that what is happening is not the consequences of autocephaly, but the consequences of a sick thought, which should concern us. "I am a little disappointed that some Churches are not reacting. I am personally troubled because the Churches do not see what is happening in the ecclesiastical process. Moscow is trying to create a parallel Orthodox world, which has nothing to do with the real Orthodox world." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: I myself am more than a little disappointed that some Orthodox Churches are not recognizing the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. It is high time for them to stop sitting on the fence, saying simply that war is a bad thing and it's too bad that people are getting killed, etc. The Ecumenical Patriarch has called "Russkii Mir" nationalistic imperialism nothing less than the heresy of ethnophylitism. Now it is the time for other autocephalic Orthodox Churches to acknowledge this.

JUDICIAL WATCH SUES FOR NIH COMMUNICATIONS ON FETAL ORGAN HARVESTING
from: Judicial Watch

(10 Jan.) (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for records of communications of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Office of Extramural Research about the use of human fetal organs (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 1:22-cv-03051)).

The lawsuit was filed after HHS failed respond to a July 15, 2022, FOIA request by Judicial Watch to the National Institutes for Health (a component of HHS) for:

All communications concerning human fetal tissue between the Office of Extramural Research and any of the following entities: (1) University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), (2) University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, (3) the National Abortion Federation and (4) any Planned Parenthood entity.

On April 16, 2021, NIH sent out a notice informing the extramural research community (researchers outside NIH from across the United States and in some foreign countries who have been awarded grants through the NIH grant program) that HHS was reversing the Trump administration’s limits on fetal tissue research, stating: "all research applications for NIH grants and contracts proposing the use of human fetal tissue from elective abortions will be reviewed by an Ethics Advisory Board." Accordingly, the notice said, "HHS/NIH will not convene another NIH Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board."

"We have already established collusion between the University of Pittsburgh and the NIH over the fetal organ ‘chop shop’ in the University of Pittsburgh paid for with federal tax dollars," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The Biden administration turned the spigot back on for taxpayer funding of this barbarism, and we want the details."

In February 2020, NIH records showed that the agency paid thousands of dollars to a California-based firm to purchase organs from aborted human fetuses to create "humanized mice" for HIV research.

In June 2020, FDA records showed that between 2012 and 2018 the FDA entered into eight contracts worth $96,370 with Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR) to acquire "fresh and never frozen" tissue from 1st and 2nd trimester aborted fetuses for use in creating "humanized mice" for ongoing research.

In April 2021, FDA records detailed the agency spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to buy human fetal tissue from California-based Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR). The tissue was used in creating "humanized mice" to test "biologic drug products," and wanted "fresh; shipped on wet ice" fetal organs.

In August 2021, Judicial Watch and the Center for Medical Progress through a separate FOIA lawsuit uncovered HHS documents that revealed nearly $3 million in federal funds were spent on the University of Pittsburgh's quest to become a "Tissue Hub" for human fetal tissue ranging from 6 to 42 weeks gestation.

In September 2021, Judicial Watch uncovered records and communications from the FDA involving "humanized mice" research with human fetal heads, organs and tissue, including communications and contracts with human fetal tissue provider Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR). Most of the records are communications and related attachments between Perrin Larton, a procurement manager for ABR, and research veterinary medical officer Dr. Kristina Howard of the FDA.

In April 2022, Judicial Watch uncovered records revealing that the Associate Senior Vice Chancellor for Science Strategy and Planning in the Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Jeremy Berg, contacted then-Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Francis Collins, requesting help to combat, "efforts to undermine important science using fetal tissue." Additionally, the records included a scientific report containing information about grafting human scalp and other tissues onto mice. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: So does "HHS/NIH will not convene another NIH Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board " mean that it is now ethical for U. of Pittsburgh to deliberately abort babies in order to sell their organs to Advanced Bioscience Resources? Perhaps it should be renamed "Ethically Challenged Bioscience Resources" instead. And former Director of the National Institutes of Health Francis Collins calls himself an Evangelical Christian!

Medical doctors are often forced to make tough decisions: "Vital signs defining the colour-coded triage, T vitals . RR: respiratory rate; SpO2: saturation of peripheral oxygen (pulse oxymetry); HR: heart rate; GCS: Glasgow Coma Score; Tp: temperature; ICU: Intensive Care Unit" (Wikipedia).

"For what if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. ...for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:3-4, 23). When we look at the shortcomings of people, we should realize that we are all that way: we all sin, we all "lack the glory that [we] ought to have from God" (Luther's translation of verse 23).

We are distressed when Christian leaders fail us by falling into sin. But we all have limited resources – physical (strength, health, time, money), emotional (pressures, stresses, failed relationships, etc.), and spiritual (sin and guilt, guilt-projection and self-justification). We are forced to choose what to do with our limited resources: should we be self-centered opportunists "looking out for number one," or should we be idealists "loving our neighbor as ourselves"?

There are casualties in war, often innocent people are injured physically, psychologically, or spiritually – these are interwoven in each person. Go to the article "Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest sanctioned for 30 years" at our website link https://discover-original-christianity.info/Orthodox-Christian-Laity-and-Unity.htm to read about the one-time rising star in the Russian Orthodox Church, perhaps the next Patriarch, who was suddenly demoted and stripped of all his powerful positions for speaking out against the war:

"And in Russia, there are politicians who remind us [falsely] that our country has never lost in any war, therefore, 'whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword.' First, let's remember at what cost Russia [supposedly] won the wars. This price is millions of lives. Secondly, let's remember that every war brings incalculable disasters to people. We must also remember that the outcome of the war is unpredictable." Then, after being demoted for speaking out about the war, he was sanctioned by Ukraine, all for speaking out!

The term "triage" refers to the rationing of limited resources during times of war, plague, or natural disasters. If you do a search for this term or explanation, you'll find dozens of articles about the dilemma faced by doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators during the Covid-19 pandemic: do we use our limited resources – respirators, antiviral medicines, hospital beds, and short-staffed personnel – for the sickest people, or the elderly, or the youngest, or the most likely to survive? Should we "triage" the rest of the people – cull out those most likely to die anyway, or the oldest who've already lived a good life, or the poorest who have no ability to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep them alive... or those of another ethnicity or language that our country doesn't like?

Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Vladimir Putin up to 2010, who has been living in exile in Israel since 2018, in the article "Russian military chiefs are losing patience with Putin and could soon turn on him in a coup, former aide predicts" is quoted as writing – "It must be understood that the vast majority of commanders in the army of an authoritarian nation are not staunch supporters of the authorities, but run-of-the-mill opportunists. As problems pile up in the country and the army, that the authorities are unable to solve, Putin is more steadily transforming in people's eyes from a great strategist to an ordinary, second-rate dictator."

Is that what opportunism is like? Is "doing the most good for the most people (including myself)" opportunism, or is it really an honest ethical dilemma? As you see from the above examples, this isn't just airy-fairy speculation: it has real-world consequences. Also, we are facing a population implosion – a "demographic winter" of limited numbers of young people to care for the disabled and elderly. China now is facing a decrease in its population, as is Japan, Russia, the United States, and Western Europe. The birth rate for stable population is 2.1 babies per woman, but if the birth rate falls below 1.6, that society will vanish in about two generations. For decades now, I've been warning about this but few people have responded: almost nobody wants to think about our own or society's eventual decline or death. Just this week, I've finished updating our sketches of "Agape Restoration Communities" – go to our short article on "The ARC's BRIEF OVERVIEW" that ends with a link to "The ARC" Chat/Video Forum.

We were created for community, for koinonia-fellowship, to share in the glory of God and to share His glory with others. But we have fallen short, we all have sinned, we have limited resources and abilities. What will we choose: to "look out for number one" or to love our neighbor as ourselves?

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