PRO-LIFERS REPORT BEING VICIOUSLY BEATEN OUTSIDE BALTIMORE PLANNED PARENTHOOD
from: LiveAction News

(30 May) Social media reports indicate that two pro-life men were brutally attacked outside a Baltimore Planned Parenthood on Friday, May 26. Mark Crosby and Dick Schaefer were praying outside the abortion business on North Howard Street when they reportedly became the victims of an unprovoked attack.

In an email to LifeSiteNews, local pro-life advocate John Roswell explained that the assailant first asked one of the abortion facility's escorts to hold his drink, then lunged at Schaefer, "who believes his back was turned at that time to the assailant."

"Mark, who was in the street, tried to go to Dick's aid and was hit in the face, knocking him on the ground and the man then kicked him in the head," Roswell added in the email. He said that Schaeffer was also "slammed" into the glass of the nearby building.

Images of Crosby after the attack show him with multiple facial injuries, including a severely swollen eye and nose. According to Roswell's account, the "plate bone in [Crosby's] upper right cheek is completely fractured," and he "is bleeding from some unidentified area behind his eye, and the bone eye orbit is completely shattered and will have to be replaced with metal."

A client from a nearby pregnancy resource center then screamed, and a nurse from the center rushed to provide medical treatment to the injured men. A social media post by Jay Walton, President of Baltimore County Right to Life, called for prayers following the event:

"Please pray for my dear friend, Mark Crosby. He was viciously attacked yesterday, May 26, 2023 while he was praying in front of Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City. He and another prolifer were attacked from behind and the thug ran away. Mark is currently in the hospital being treated for the serious injuries he sustained. Please pray that Mark makes a full recovery and that the thug that did this to him is found and dealt with swiftly."

While Schaefer is currently recovering at home, Crosby is being treated at the University of Maryland for shock trauma. In a social media post on Monday, Walton said that Crosby was back in the emergency room for bleeding somewhere behind his right eye. Walton has started a GoFundMe to aid with Crosby's medical bills. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: So much for tolerance and inclusiveness on the part of pro-abortionists. The big problem with this sort of event, however, is not merely the brutality of it, but that the perpetrators somehow believe that such unprovoked violence against another human being is rationalized as a righteous act against the "evil" pro-lifers peacefully praying near an abortion mill: a total inversion of values in which good becomes evil and evil becomes good, light becomes darkness and darkness becomes light, and a lie becomes the truth.

AUSTRALIAN JUDGES NEED TO REVIEW STANDARDS FOR GENDER DYSPHORIA TREATMENT
from: BioEdge.org

(30 May) Most judges and lawyers in Australia know little about the white-hot debate amongst doctors over appropriate treatment for gender-dysphoric children. A survey of the latest developments by top family law barrister Belle Lane in Victoria was given to judges of the Federal Circuit and Family Court last month. She contends that recent research is undermining many of the assumptions which have dominated gender medicine for the past decade.

"The evidence base around what is called 'gender-affirming treatment' has moved rapidly and much more is known about the asserted benefits of the medical pathway and risks," Ms Lane writes, adding: "alternative treatment pathways have returned to prominence."

She highlights a lack of consensus amongst doctors: "There is a lack of clinical consensus about what is being treated, the diagnostic process, whether a diagnosis is required, the asserted benefits, risks and outcomes of the medical pathway and what alternative pathways exist. This is occurring in a highly politicised atmosphere, with legislative changes that impact the rights of parents and professionals, all of which is making discussion of issues and concerns difficult."

Australian "standards of care" are based on the "gold standard" Dutch model. However, she writes: "there are significant concerns about quality and applicability of the [Dutch] studies to the current cohort of children presenting at gender clinics." Alarmingly, she asserts that: "The Dutch studies would not meet the standards of evidence-based medicine today."

Furthermore, the characteristics of the patients have changed. "Many of the children have complex mental health, neurodiversity, and adverse childhood experiences. Most of these children would have been excluded under the original Dutch protocol, however now almost all the safeguards of the original Dutch protocols have been removed. Treatment is now based on a child's subjective identity in a child-led process, a situation unheard of in other areas of medicine."

Ms Lane argues that the law should revisit Re Kelvin, a 2017 case involving a child who wanted to transition. The judge concluded that if a child, the parents and the doctors all agreed on the path to be followed, there was no need for court approval. But this approach has effectively deprived the courts of access to the latest developments in how to treat gender dysphoric children.

[read more...]

COMMENTARY: Only about 0.1% of people are genetically bisexual, i.e., with indeterminate genitals. The vast majority of 25% or so of teens "identifying as" bi, trans, gay, etc. are victims of a social contagion being promulgated by social media, TV, movies, advertisements, and much of the educational system – both public and private. Another BioEdge article, Against Commercial-Assisted Suicide, brings out a salient point: when you advertise something that appeals to sensual appetites, you create market demand for a "need" that people hitherto were unaware of. Then the businesses – money-makers – move in to profit from selling trans pills, mutilating surgery, and even killing because "it's good for you." It is high time for the courts to step in and reassert the laws that protect both children and the elderly from exploitation for financial gain,

RUSSIA: "WOULD JESUS CHRIST HAVE GONE TO KILL IN UKRAINE?"
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."

(30 May) Small numbers of Russians continue to express their opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine on grounds of faith or with the use of religious imagery and quotations – and continue to be detained and fined under Russia's wartime laws, punishing them for "discrediting" the Armed Forces.

In Sverdlovsk Region, Eduard Charov criticised the war and the "partial mobilisation" on social media, asking "Would Jesus Christ have gone to kill in Ukraine?" Krasnoufimsk District branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB – the former KGB) found his posts and alerted the Prosecutor's Office.

A court fined Charov twice on 18 April for both "discreditation" of the Armed Forces (Administrative Code Article 20.3.3) and "incitement of hatred" towards the state authorities (Administrative Code Article 20.3.1). The fines amounted to one month's average local wage, though as a pensioner with a wife on a disability pension and residents to support in the shelter he runs, the fines will be a burden.

On Orthodox Easter Sunday, Mariya Kunchenko protested against the war in central Moscow with a placard reading "Stop the war. Stop deceiving people. Freedom for political prisoners." She was fined for a second time (after an earlier punishment in Krasnodar Region) on 20 April under Article 20.3.3.

A court in Kareliya convicted Yekaterina Kukharskaya – who put stickers around Petrozavodsk bearing the Bible's Sixth Commandment ("Thou shalt not kill") and various anti-war slogans – under Article 20.3.3 and fined her just over a week's average local wage on 15 May.

A court in Smolensk Region fined Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox church reader Pavel Kichula about three weeks' average local wage under Article 20.3.3 for reposting on his VKontakte page a "Handbook for Anti-War Disputes in the Family and the Workplace." FSB investigators detained him outside his church just before an evening service, questioned him about his "religious authority," and later told local media that he had "imposed his opinion on all participants of the religious group."

"They watched out for me on the Feast of the Annunciation and took me in right before the start of the evening service [on 6 April]. The questioning lasted until 8pm," Kichula told Forum 18. He commented that "I don't know how [the investigators] decided that I belong to a 'particular religious group' ... Apparently, in this way they wanted to mask my connection to the Russian Orthodox Church and make a noise in the media with the help of such terrible phrasing. After all, everyone is afraid of the unknown. In general, I don't know what logic they were guided by." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: The above photo reads: "House of mercy for the sake of Christ – for the homeless, elderly, orphans, and invalids." We need to not only provide homes for these people, we also need to integrate them into society. The Church – the Body of Christ – should provide accessible and affordable housing for the homeless, elderly, orphans, and invalids that includes able-bodied children, working adults and retired people. It is harmful to isolate homeless, elderly, orphans, and disabled people away from the rest of society.

PEOPLE WITH DOWN SYNDROME ARE LIVING LONGER, BUT THE HEALTH SYSTEM STILL TREATS MANY AS KIDS
from: Disability Scoop

(24 May) MONTROSE, Mo. – It took Samantha Lesmeister’s family four months to find a medical professional who could see that she was struggling with something more than her Down syndrome.

The young woman, known as Sammee, had become unusually sad and lethargic after falling in the shower and hitting her head. She lost her limited ability to speak, stopped laughing and no longer wanted to leave the house. General-practice doctors and a neurologist said such mental deterioration was typical for a person with Down syndrome entering adulthood, recalled her mother, Marilyn Lesmeister. They said nothing could be done.

The family didn't buy it. Marilyn researched online and learned the University of Kansas Health System has a special medical clinic for adults with Down syndrome. Most other Down syndrome programs nationwide focus on children, even though many people with the condition now live into middle age and often develop health problems typically associated with seniors. And most of the clinics that focus on adults are in urban areas, making access difficult for many rural patients.

The clinic Marilyn found is in Kansas City, Kan., 80 miles northwest of the family's cattle farm in central Missouri. She made an appointment for her daughter and drove up. The program's leader, nurse practitioner Moya Peterson, carefully examined Sammee Lesmeister and ordered more tests. "She reassured me that, 'Mom, you're right. Something's wrong with your daughter,'" Marilyn Lesmeister said.

With the help of a second neurologist, Peterson determined Sammee Lesmeister had suffered a traumatic brain injury when she hit her head. Since that diagnosis about nine years ago, she has regained much of her strength and spirit with the help of therapy and steady support. Sammee, now 27, can again speak a few words, including "hi," "bye," and "love you." She smiles and laughs. She likes to go out into her rural community, where she helps choose meals at restaurants, attends horse-riding sessions at a stable, and folds linens at a nursing home.

Without Peterson's insight and encouragement, the family likely would have given up on Sammee's recovery. "She probably would have continued to wither within herself," her mother said. "I think she would have been a stay-at-home person and a recluse." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: It frequently happens that people, sometimes even medical specialists, tend to ignore the health problems of people with disabilities, women, non-whites, or elderly people. Some disablities are obvious, such as when a person is blind and must use a white cane, or in a wheelchair: able-bodied people might reach out to help them. But "invisible disabilities" such as autism, brain trauma, or hearing loss aren't as obvious, so other people often "turn a blind eye" to people with such disabilities, ignoring them if they interact a little "differently."

ENDING ABORTION-ON-DEMAND WITH A LIFE AT CONCEPTION ACT
from: National Pro-life Alliance

(31 May) For forty-nine years, nine unelected men and women on the Supreme Court played God with innocent human life. The result was a brutal holocaust that claimed the lives of more than 63 million innocent and helpless unborn children in America. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling forced abortion-on-demand down our nation's throat.

In the past, many in the pro-life movement felt limited to protecting a life here and there – passing some limited laws to slightly control abortion in the most outrageous cases. And for years, most pro-lifers tiptoed around the Supreme Court, hoping they wouldn't be offended. Finally, the time to grovel before the Supreme Court is over.

Pro-life lawmakers can pass a Life at Conception Act and end abortion by using the Constitution instead of amending it. When the Supreme Court handed down its now-infamous Roe v. Wade decision, it did so based on a new, previously undefined “right of privacy” which it “discovered” in so-called “emanations” of “penumbrae” of the Constitution.

Of course, as constitutional law, it was a disaster. But never once did the Supreme Court declare abortion itself to be a Constitutional right. Instead, the Supreme Court said: “We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins . . . the judiciary at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.”

Then the High Court made a key admission: “If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case [i.e. “Roe” who sought the abortion], of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.”

That's exactly what a Life at Conception Act would do. A Life at Conception Act changes the focus of the abortion debate. National Pro-Life Alliance members have led the fight to end abortion-on-demand by passing a Life at Conception Act. They have generated over 3 million petitions to Congress to date urging lawmakers to cosponsor and fight for passage of a Life at Conception Act. [read more...]

COMMENTARY: The current U.S. administration is threatening to cut off all federal insurance drug reimbursement to pharmacies that will not dispense abortion pills, which violates "the free exercise of religion" (1st Amendment) and deprives people of property (violation of 14th Amendment). Also, corporations including Chase Bank, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Airbnb, Apple, Goldman Sachs, Snap Inc., Twitter, Visa, and Oracle are refusing to do business with Christians who publicly practice their faith: see New Index Tracks How Friendly Companies are to Certain Views. It's time for you to add your name to the 3 million petitions to pass a Life at Conception Act. Go to the Life at Conception Act Petition and sign your name: it will send your petition to your U.S. Senators and Representative. I have!

BARRIERS TO ENTRY FOR DISABLED TECH PROFESSIONALS
from: Disabled World

(24 May) Access in tech has become an increasingly present and pressing discussion in tech over the last few years. The sector's lack of diversity is a concern at every level, particularly in the context of a widening digital skills gap.

While there's been an increase in reporting especially on gender disparities(1) in tech, it's also vital to expand the conversation around disability access and inclusion in tech. To add some fresh statistics to the discussion, Jefferson Frank(2), a Tenth Revolution Group company, has gauged disabled and non-disabled tech professionals on their experiences pursuing certifications.

Percentage of tech professionals who have started but not finished a certification:
Disabled tech professionals . . . . . . 63%
Non-disabled tech professionals. . . 41%

Responding to this new data, Jefferson Frank Global EDI Strategy Lead Caroline Fox commented: "It's a substantial disparity, which tells us there's still a great deal to do in terms of disability access and equity in tech."

Addressing potential reasons for this disparity in certification outcomes, she said:

"The most common detail that disabled tech professionals shared with us in our research was that not having enough time was the decisive factor in not being able to complete a certification. We need to be thinking about the fact that accessibility features can take longer, or that if a platform isn't providing accessibility features, it can necessarily take someone longer to navigate it – and they may require more breaks, for example."

Discussing the implementation of accessibility features, AWS Hero, Principal at Slalom Build, and Founder of Deaf in the Cloud Rob Koch said:

"One good example is the AWS channel on Twitch. AWS has provided rotating sign language interpreters during live broadcasts, and this is an huge step in the right direction! On the flip side, Twitch still doesn't have live captioning that YouTube or broadcast TV has. Accessibility, arguably, can be hard to provide initially. However, once it is in place, everything becomes easy because there are resources, know-how, great people and tools to make it all happen."

Fox echoed this sentiment, suggesting that "There are set-up costs for accessibility features, but running costs are actually low. And of course, a business' prepared to make that initial investment can affect whether a good quality implementation happens."

Koch continued: "It's crucial to remember that not one disability is the same for all. Some people with the same diagnosis will have different accommodation requests." Fox added that "disabilities aren't uniform, and nor are learning types. So providing different formats and different ways to access the same information is essential. Variety of the same content is a means of ensuring wider accessibility." [read more...]

COMMENTARY: We're losing alot of talent by not accomodating trained and skilled people who have disabilities such as lack of mobility, manual dexterity, hearing, or vision. These people can be very productive in a workplace that has been adapted to their needs. While we were living in Russia, we learned that the main work for blind people was assembling basic electrical circuits such as light switches: what a terrible waste of potential talent!

This picture aptly illustrates the issue at hand: can every cowherd and every milkmaid correctly understand and interpret the Scriptures? Or does the King James Version's wording give us a hint of what can happen? "Dividing" can mean causing division: many illustrations I looked at showed a vertical sword stabbed into a Bible and one picture actually showed the mathematical symbol for division! Staking one's own position on a mistaken interpretation can cause division. What does the Bible really say about this, why have we come to the point where many insist that their personal view is the only right one and if you disagree they disown you?

The wording in the above title – "handling accurately the word of truth" – is from the NASB version, a very exact and accurate Evangelical translation. In 2 Timothy 2:15, the Apostle Paul is instructing Timothy how to shepherd the flocks in the region of Ephesus, where Paul had appointed him (1 Tim. 1:3) to ordain leaders in the churches there (1 Tim. 3: 1-10), just as Paul and appointed Titus to do in the churches on the island of Crete (Titus 1:5-7). This illustrates the apostolic oversight over churches to insure that correct doctrine is being accurately taught: Timothy and Titus were both to fulfill this apostolic function.

Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica to "stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us" (2 Thes. 2:15). And he instructed Timothy to "guard that which is traditioned to you, turning away from the empty chatter and oppositions of falsely so called knowledge; which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen" (1 Tim. 6:20-21). The word "tradition" is "paradosis" in Greek, meaning that which is passed down from one person in authority to another. Also note "by word of mouth" – in the first 15 centuries of the Church, written copies of Scripture were rare and expensive, so much "traditioning" was oral from one generation of apostolic teachers to the next.

When Jesus was tempted right after His baptism, the devil mis-quoted Scripture to challenge Jesus to show off His power – see Mat. 4:5-7. Over and over in the New Testament we are warned to guard against false teachers and teachings. There are hundreds if not thousands of mistaken answers to a problem in higher math, but only one right answer: the same is true of Christian doctrine. Jesus told the Sadducees – "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God" (Mat. 22:29).

The Apostle Peter wrote that "no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation, just as no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (1 Pet. 1:20-21). Notice the connecting words "just as": in the same way, or just as, holy men of God spoke, so also we need "holy men of God" – saints and Church Fathers, those recognized by the Church – to correctly interpret Scripture. Not "every cowherd and every milkmaid" can do it correctly.

St. Peter also wrote that the wise writings of the Apostle Paul were sometimes hard to understand – "our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you; as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Pet. 3:15b-16).

Finally, St. Paul instructs Titus how to train new elders – "holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him. For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain's sake." (Titus 1:9-11).

There are those whose mistaken ideas contradict sound doctrine: unruly, vain talkers and deceivers who are seeking self-gratification. But there are also those who are able to exhort in the sound doctrine. Let us strive to become the latter, by the example of the Apostles and their successors!

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