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Thirty-One Things That Caught My Eye: Jimmy Lai, MAID in Canada, Eternal Things & More

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Jimmy Lai during an interview in Hong Kong, May 29, 2020 (Tyrone Siu / Reuters)

1. WSJ Letter: Jimmy Lai and the China That Could Have Been

I met Jimmy Lai at international conferences (“Jimmy Lai’s 1,000 Prison Days,” Review & Outlook, Sept. 26). He always spoke constructively about China’s growth prospects, even given the enormous demographic challenges it faced and still faces. Arriving in Hong Kong as a stowaway at age 12, Mr. Lai is a true son of Hong Kong’s soil. In a China that tolerated free speech, he would have served as the country’s best spokesman and ambassador, rather than being incarcerated in prison, as he is now.

2. Michael Warsaw: Standing Up for Nicaragua

It was seven months ago that the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, in Nicaragua sentenced Bishop Rolando Álvarez Lagos of Matagalpa to 26 years and four months in prison, charging him with being a “traitor to the homeland.”

That outrageous attack on religious freedom and, more specifically, the Catholic Church in Nicaragua drew international media coverage and widespread condemnation. Today, however, the exact whereabouts of Bishop Álvarez are unknown, and some people question whether he is even still alive. Meanwhile, the regime’s persecution of the Church continues unabated.

These recent acts of aggression demonstrate how ineffective the United States and the international community have been so far in pressuring the Ortega government to change course. And Catholic priests and faithful citizens and religious groups in Nicaragua are paying a heavy price for that failure. . . .

Right now in Nicaragua even publicly praying for Bishop Álvarez is a crime. On Sept. 8 Father Osman José Amador Guillén, who had publicly requested prayers for the imprisoned bishop, was kidnapped by the police.

3.  Naomi Schaefer Riley: As NYC reels from fentanyl day care tragedy, child care overdoses are more common than we think

“He had so much love,” Zoila Dominici said of her 1-year-old son Nicholas who died last week from fentanyl exposure after his home-based day care in The Bronx, Divino Nino, was found to be doubling as a drug den.

Three other toddlers were hospitalized when the fentanyl fumes were absorbed into their lungs.

Unfortunately, cases like this are not as rare as we’d like to think.

According to a study published earlier this year in the journal Pediatrics, there were 731 children 5 and under who suffered from poison-related fatalities between 2005 and 2018.

The percentage that resulted from opioids went from less than a quarter to more than half during that period.

 

4. Also from Schaefer Riley: Former foster kids need more than higher ed

Every year, about 20,000 kids age out of foster care. Offering to send them to college is not a magic solution

5. Tim Carney: Read this if you believe that later abortions only happen in case of severe medical conditions

But from the available evidence, all presented by defenders of abortion, it seems clear that many abortions after 20 weeks happen without any dire diagnoses for the mother or baby.

Diana Greene Foster, a fierce defender of abortion, estimated in 2013 that “more than 15,000 [abortions] likely take place after 20 weeks.”

Foster and co-author Katrina Kimport published a paper titled “Who Seeks Abortions at or After 20 Weeks.”

They wrote in their paper, “Data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.” (The authors later retracted this sentence after abortion opponents began citing it.)

Working together with abortion clinics, Foster and Kimport, in an earlier study, recruited mothers who had obtained or sought abortions and repeatedly interviewed them over five years.

The authors state that they “exclu[ded] women who sought later abortions on grounds of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.” That means these researchers, contacting a small selection of abortion clinics, found hundreds of willing interviewees who had elective late-term abortions in a three-year period.

6. Meaghan Walker-Williams in the National Post: MAID is a threat to vulnerable Indigenous youth

Today, suicide is a silent crisis unfolding within Indigenous communities, striking at the very heart of our future: our youth. According to Statistics Canada, the suicide rate for First Nations individuals is about three times the national average. The numbers for youth are even more heart-wrenching. First Nations individuals between ages 15 and 24 are six times more likely to die by suicide than those who are not Indigenous.

As First Nations fight these high suicide rates, Canada could expand its Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) regime. Initially, MAID was legalized in 2016, but only where a person’s death was “reasonably foreseeable.” Efforts are now underway to grow its reach. In February of this year, those suffering from mental illness were supposed to become eligible for MAID, but this was delayed to 2024. In the meantime, Canada continues to discuss the implications of this expansion.

While the intention behind MAID may be compassionate, the potential implications it holds for economically disadvantaged Indigenous individuals grappling with complex challenges cannot be overlooked.

It’s essential to emphasize that the Coast Salish and many Indigenous cultures hold life as sacred. The narrative that MAID could even be an implicit option for those in despair due to socio-economic challenges is not only alarming but against the very fabric of our beliefs.

7. Also in the National Post: Hundreds of trans teens under 18 have had breasts removed in Canada, new data show

Hospitalizations and day surgery visits for bilateral mastectomies for gender reassignment surgery have risen sharply, from 536 in 2018-19, to 985 in fiscal 2022-23, according to data compiled for National Post by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Of the 4,071 visits in total involving gender-affirming mastectomies or breast reductions reported since 2018, 602 involved youth 18 and under.

Of those, 303 involved teens 17 and younger. The youngest age was 14.

The numbers tell only part of the story. The CIHI data exclude Quebec hospitals as well as surgeries performed in private clinics like the McLean Clinic in Mississauga, which describes its surgeons as “industry pioneers” for top surgery — mastectomies and breast reductions in those assigned female at birth, and breast augmentation for those born male transitioning to female.

One specialist in transgender health issues said that, when applying for OHIP funding for people seeking top surgery, “50 to 70 per cent will go to McLean.”

8. NBC News: Primary care doctor shortage worsening across U.S.

9. A Decision Between a Woman and Her Abortion Bot? Meet ‘Chatbot Charley’ Pushing Mail-Order Abortions

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12. Washington Times: House adds anti-abortion guardrails to bill reauthorizing global AIDS relief

13. Daily Signal: California Sues Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers for Reversing Abortions

14. Guadalupe Project supports mothers

At The Catholic Unversity of America in D.C.:

In just one year, the impact of the Guadalupe Project can be felt across campus, from new “expectant mother” parking spaces to additional diaper-changing stations, and maternity clothing now stocked in the on-campus clothing exchange, Cardinal Closet. One of the most significant policy changes has been the expansion of paid family leave for staff from eight to 12 weeks.

“To be truly ‘pro-life’ means not just opposing abortion — but caring for all of the moms, dads and babies in our midst,” [Jennie Bradley Lichter] said. She said the committee she chaired focused on assessing three areas: university policy, changes needed to campus facilities and campus culture.

Driving the recommendations now being implemented was the university’s commitment that “no pregnant mother — and no expectant father — on our campus should feel alone, and none will be alone if they allow the university to walk with them through this season.”

15. Nathanael Blake: How Trustworthy Are Medical Organizations That Rabidly Support Until-Birth Abortion?

Solidarity begins in the womb. Our obligations to the poor and weak and needy begin in the womb, for those who as yet can offer us nothing but human need and dependence. And the physician’s responsibility to do no harm begins in the womb.

16. North Carolina provides millions to pregnancy resource centers in latest budget

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18. Crux: Mary’s Meals, a Catholic charity devoted to feeding hungry children, recently resumed their meal distribution in Ethiopia but is facing challenges in the war-ravaged region. 

19. NBC News: Kids and teens are inundated with phone prompts day and night

A Common Sense Media report finds about half of 11- to 17-year-olds get at least 237 notifications a day. Some get nearly 5,000 in 24 hours. What does that do to their brains?

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21. Daily Mail: Mobile phones are to be banned in schools as education secretary Gillian Keegan is set to announce a dramatic intervention — to the relief of millions of parents and teachers

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23.  Gallup: In U.S., Churchgoers Boast Better Mood, Especially on Sundays

In other words, regular churchgoers seem to do better than non-churchgoers or occasional churchgoers in terms of their daily positive well-being experiences. This underscores previous Gallup research that finds very religious Americans do better across numerous dimensions of well-being than do those who are less religious or not at all religious.

24. Gallup: Americans’ Preference for Larger Families Highest Since 1971

25. Our Sunday Visitor: Caffeine and Jesus in Minnesota business

A typical day at the shop is as diverse as the cohort it attracts: a visitor might overhear an interdenominational theological debate, glimpse a Bible study group or see different patrons doing remote work. Some stop in briefly, while others stay for hours.

26. Mary Margaret Olohan: Pro Surfer Makes Different Kind of Waves as Brand Ambassador for Pro-Life Diaper Company

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28. Father Peter John Cameron, O.P.: Staring at the drudgery: This is what will move you to act

We change our mind and go into the vineyard so that there we can experience “the radiation of fatherhood”: “One must enter the radiation of fatherhood, since only there does everything become fully real” (Pope Saint John Paul II).

29.  Also from Father Cameron: Prayer is stillness: To let God’s healing have its way in us

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