Oregon targets Christian schools, Pelosi calls Amy Coney Barrett “illegitimate” (and other stories)

This, from The Federalist, is disgraceful:

Through statewide Wuhan virus rules, Brown and the Oregon Department of Education are forcing certain private religious schools to stay closed while giving similarly sized public schools a pass. As a result, religious schools in Oregon might be forced to close altogether, eliminating the option for parents to choose to send their children to schools that reinforce their religious beliefs.

Not surprising—it is Oregon, after all. But still disgraceful.

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After previously appearing supportive of abortion, Vladimir Putin is moving to reduce the abortion rate in Russia:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Government to do more to reduce the number of abortions in the country by offering more support to pregnant women. Increased funding for organisations which offer effective support to women in crisis pregnancies and improving the provision of legal, psychological and medical assistance to pregnant women are outlined as key measures in Putin’s order, which was published on Saturday.

In addition, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and regional heads of state have been tasked with reassessing the effectiveness of current abortion prevention strategies…Last year, Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova revealed that the significant drop in abortions had coincided with the opening of pregnancy support centres at maternity clinics and hospitals.

She told Russian news outlet, Tass, that around 1,500 centres had opened over the past 15 years.

This week, Deputy Health Minister Oleg Salagai told delegates at the Healthy Life Forum that the project is still “bearing fruit.” He revealed that the number of abortions had decreased by nearly 30% over the past five years crediting the work of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and public organizations.However, highlighting that there was still work to be done, he added: “These are big numbers, serious changes, but the number of abortions is still very high, and at the end of 2019, the number of abortions was approximately 523,000.”

Read the whole thing.

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The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is reporting that Canada’s Correctional Investigator is calling for a moratorium on euthanasia in prisons. From Dr. Ivan Zinger’s report:

There are three known cases of MAiD in federal corrections, two carried out in the community, and each raises fundamental questions around consent, choice, and dignity. In the two cases reviewed in the reporting period, my Office found a series of errors, omissions, inaccuracies, delays and misapplications of law and policy.

Unfortunately, par for the course.

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If you need more reasons to be relieved that the GOP looks likely to have kept the Senate, here’s Nancy Pelosi referring to Amy Coney Barrett as an “illegitimate justice.” There is very little doubt that if the Democrats had gotten the Blue Wave they hoped for, they would be packing the Supreme Court.

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This is fantastic news, and I hope more countries follow suit:

Under Thailand’s new cybercrime law, Pornhub, along with 190 other porn sites and gambling sites, have been blocked so that citizens can no longer access them.

Puttipong Punnakanta, the country’s Minister of Digital Economy and Society, explained to reporters on November 3 that, under the country’s Computer Crime Act, pornography is illegal. 

The Diplomat reported that “The move comes just days after the kingdom’s Deputy Prime Minister, Prawit Wongsuwan, issued a new policy directive calling on the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society to act against sites that caused ‘improper behavior’ among the younger generation.”

Read the whole thing.

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Some good news from election night:

Voters in Louisiana voted on Tuesday to declare that there was no given state right to an abortion, making it so that it was not a constitutional right to even fund the procedure. The assertion is something that could come into play if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. 

The following language will be added to the state’s constitution: ‘To protect human life, nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.’  Louisiana’s amendment could come into play if the Supreme Court overturn its Roe v. Wade decision. Voters in New Orleans

Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia already have similar constitutional language, Mother Jones reports. There are only three abortion clinics running in Louisiana.  As of 2018, the state had the third-highest poverty rate in the nation – 20 per cent – making residents more likely to need access to abortion services. There are only three abortion clinics running in Louisiana. In Colorado, by contrast, voters defeated a measure to prohibit abortions after 22 weeks unless the pregnant woman’s life is endangered. 

And with a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court–who knows?

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