A roundup of news and commentary from around the interwebs.
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I recently became a contributing editor at The European Conservative, where I’ve had a few essays published in the past (an interview with George Orwell’s son; a conversation with French politician Marion Maréchal, etc.) I have a cover story in the print edition—“Europe’s Pro-Life Battlegrounds”—and an essay in the online edition, a review of a powerful new memoir of a Jewish Dutch resistance fighter, which may be one of the last books of its kind. Check it out!
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The burgeoning suicide industry is metastasizing further. From National Review:
Bioethicists are looking for ways to eliminate people diagnosed with dementia when they become incapacitated. Belgium and the Netherlands permit advance orders to be euthanized. Another proposal gaining traction in bioethics would force caregivers to starve patients to death.
And here’s a new idea: Writing in the Hastings Center Report — the world’s most prominent bioethics journal — two prominent bioethicists propose the implantation of a time-release suicide device that will cause future death at the time of the patient’s choosing. They call the hypothetical device an “advance directive implant, or ADI” (bioethicists sure love their acronyms). From, “Ending One’s Life in Advance:”
The ADI would require extensive engineering and may not be feasible with current technologies. Still, we suspect it could become feasible in the near future. We imagine the ADI as something like a computerized subdermal implant containing a lethal dose of a medication or combination of medications. Release of these medications would occur rapidly after a predetermined interval or after some specific event had occurred. The ADI would likely require a long-lasting battery, computerized control, and a pump or microfluidic mechanism…
It is crucial that the ADI be easily and immediately removable. After all, even those certain of their wish to obtain it would still like the option of changing their minds, at least prior to the onset of dementia, whether for personal reasons or because an effective treatment for their condition has been developed.
I see a porn star somehow ended up at Turning Point USA’s conference for conservative teenagers this month. Linking to anything on this story is a bit of a minefield, but Matt Walsh has a decent summary of the situation and why it is ridiculous that some on the Right actually defended this porn star’s attendance. The libertarian faction of the Right is, in practice, largely dedicated to defending various aspects of libertinism.
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The Christian Post has the details on the testimony of a former Uyghur prisoner, who explained how prisoners of the Chinese Communist regime are imprisoned, raped, and tortured. Communist China is the new Evil Empire of our day—but economically, we’re too in bed with them to say much.
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Black Lives Matter has come out in support of the Communist regime in Cuba in the midst of a brutal crackdown on ordinary citizens fighting for their freedom. BLM is not what many think it is—it is a Marxist organization. This, once again, confirms it. The American Left has a long history of standing with oppressive regimes.
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For those who want to get a handle on what is going on in South Africa right now, this essay—“South Africa is on the brink”—is a good summary.
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Facing pro-life laws sweeping across America at the state level and the potential for a devastating blow to the abortion industry by the Supreme Court next year, one of America’s top abortion groups—NARAL—is in turmoil trying to map out the way forward. The Huffington Post has the details.
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Unsurprisingly, it turns out that American pagans exhibit the highest support for LGBTQ rights in the U.S.—a whopping 93%.
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A former volunteer for Planned Parenthood warns that the abortion giant’s sex education “sexualizes children.” We already knew this, but it is always good to have confirmation.
