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What the Alabama IVF Ruling Says About the Right to Life3
A ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court last week has been the cause of immense hyperventilating in the mainstream press—and the predictable invocation of scare terms like “theocracy” and “Christian nationalism.” In LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, P.C., a fertility clinic that neglected to properly secure its frozen embryo nursery from a prying patient
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What Drove Last Year’s Biggest Population Growth in US History2
Immigration is behind the biggest annual population increase in the history of the United States, according to an independent research firm. “US population grew +3.8M in 2023 – the largest one-year increase in US history,” tweeted Eric Finnigan of John Burns Research and Consulting (JBREC) earlier this month. “The surge is likely short-lived as its
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The Humanity of Huck Finn1
- Literature
- February 28, 2024
Huckleberry Finn is no hero, though he is clearly a child on the cusp of adulthood. That perhaps is one reason I enjoy reading and teaching Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn every year. Like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck and Tom’s imaginary childhood adventures quickly become real. From pranking the ever-suspicious Jim at night to
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The American Dream: What It Means and Why It’s Important3
- Culture
- February 27, 2024
Have you ever known a friend who said, “Next year I’m moving to Rome and living the Italian Dream?” How about a buddy who over coffee declared, “I can’t stand this country anymore. I’m off to Ankara, where I can live the Turkish Dream?” Or an uncle who slapped his open hand on the table
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‘The New York Times,’ the 1619 Project, and ‘Quid Est Veritas’?4
- Philosophy, Featured
- February 27, 2024
Many of us have heard of the 1619 Project and its attempt to reinvent American history. 1619, according to The New York Times writers, is the year that the first slaves arrived on American soil. And since, according to the 1619 Project, unjust slave labor initiated and sustained the socioeconomic structure of America, 1619 is
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ChatGPT Can Get Off My Lawn4
- Education
- February 27, 2024
Will artificial intelligence become the greatest boon to higher education since online learning? (This assumes that online learning was a boon, which is a topic for another day.) Or will it mean the utter destruction of academia as we know it? Those are the two views I see expressed most often these days, with various individuals
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From Wants to Wealth: Thoughts on Contentment5
My Pennsylvania-born mother owned a black napkin holder sporting an Amish woman and an inscription: “Ve grow too soon alt und too late schmart” (“We grow too soon old and too late smart”). Recently, I had reason to remember that adage. Because my children have trouble figuring out what to give me for my birthday,
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The NY Times Says Intensive Parenting Is Best, But…2
“Parents Are Highly Involved in their Adult Children’s Lives and Fine With It,” declared the front page of The New York Times. Added the subhead: “New surveys show that today’s intensive parenting has benefits, not just risks, and most young adults seem happy with it, too.” Is that true? “Intensive parenting” is best, and kids
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Lessons in Humanity From Prehistoric People4
In ancient cultures some children were born with Down syndrome and other genetic disorders. But our prehistoric forebears treated them with great respect. This is the conclusion reached by an international team of researchers who studied the DNA of human remains in ancient burial sites. Their global study involved screening DNA from about 10,000 ancient
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