What's Going On?

Here's the latest in my offerings of the best in news and commentary:

* “The 6 Big Ways Liberals Are Destroying America’s Culture” ( John Hawkins, Town Hall)

* “Confirmed: 99% of Union Donations Go to Liberal-Leaning Causes” (Grace Carr, Daily Signal)

* “Shocking Video Catches Planned Parenthood Showing Off Aborted Baby Parts: ‘This is an Arm, This is a Leg’” (Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com)

* “How Churches Die” (Stephen Hayward, Power Line)

* “To Christians in the Western world: a call to action” (Anastasia Sinyawski, Mercator)

* “The Tower Amid the Ruins” (Richard Fernandez, PJ Media)

 * “Twitter Censors Pro-Life Group: ‘No Advertiser is Permitted to Use the Phrase ‘Killing Babies’” (Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com)

* “San Francisco’s Human **** Map Shows City Is In Deep Doo-Doo” (Kira Davis, Red State)

* “What Does Maxine Waters Actually Do In Congress?” (Timothy Meads, Town Hall)

A Post-Branson "Catch Up"

Being in Branson the past couple of weeks for a family reunion and then a week of our traditional autumn working vacation, not to mention the extra duties I've embraced because of Claire's broken ankle, I have neglected compiling a selection of “must read” posts for awhile.

I remedy that now with these gems:

* “America’s abortion extremism” (Sheila Liaugminas, Mercator)

* “President Donald Trump Defends Defunding Intl Planned Parenthood: We Must ‘Protect the Unborn’” (Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com)

* “Weinstein Dropped $100K at 2017 Planned Parenthood Gala” (Katie Yoder, MRC NewsBusters)

* “5 lessons Harvey Weinstein can teach us about Hollywood” (Michael Cook, Mercator)

* “Trump’s Great Call on UNESCO” (Paul Mirengoff, Power Line)

* “Google Honors Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards as a “Modern-Day Hero” (Micaiah, Bilger, LifeNews.com)

* “Don’t Call Climate Skeptics ‘Deniers,’ Call Us ‘Correct’” (Christopher Monckton, American Spectator)

* “Never Forget: Muslim Hate Crime Hoaxes” (Michelle Malkin, National Review)

* “Boy Scouts Are Now Allowing Girls to Join” (Henry Rodgers, Daily Signal)

* “Actress Elisabeth Moss Will Star in New Movie Glorifying a Network of Secret Abortionists” (Micaiah, Bilger, LifeNews.com)

“A Global Climactic Upheaval”

From Newsweek magazine comes this warning. “There are ominous signs that the Earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production - with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth.”

A headline in the New York Times dealt with the same impending catastrophe: “Climate Changes Endanger World's Food Output.”

And then from TIME Magazine, here’s this. “As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval.”

Pretty ominous sounding stuff, right? So, is Al Gore correct? And is the media hype about today’s global warming crisis spot on?

Well, before you answer, let me tell you that the 3 “old guard” media examples I just cited all came from…the 1970s! Uh huh. The 1970s. And they were all from articles raging about what they predicted was…get ready for it…a cataclysmic ice age! Hmm. I wonder how that worked out for ‘em?

Now, I don’t blame anyone for being concerned about the weather catastrophes our nation is experiencing: the hurricanes and floods, the forest fires, and so on. But the main thing to deal with here is not politics, especially the hysterical and manipulative rants of the left. No, the main thing is to realize the ever-present dangers of living in a fallen planet and thus preparing for one’s inevitable exit from it.  After all, the planet as we know it is doomed. The Bible verifies that. One day this sin-stained, broken earth will be destroyed completely in order for the awesome Hand of the sovereign God to remake it. There will be new heavens and a new earth – perfect, redeemed, and wholly reconciled to God’s righteousness and peace. But that new earth is specifically remade for all who have put their trust in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross to pay the penalty of their sins, those who been adopted into His forever family.

But, of course, it won’t be TIME or Newsweek or any of the other politically correct vehicles telling you about that. No, for that sweet message you’ll have to go to an older, more trustworthy source.

Catching Up on News You Need to Know

It's been too long since I created a compilation post for Vital Signs Blog, partly because of our schedule and partly because there have been so many hugely significant news events and movements going on. Okay, enough already. I've scanned through 3 weeks of backed up emails, alerts, and bookmarks and now deliver ten articles I think genuinely indispensable. Let's go...

* “Planned Parenthood Killed Over 1 Million Babies in Abortions Worldwide in 2016” (Jonathan Abbamonte, LifeNews.com)

* “In a World of Real Evil, the Left Fights Fake Evil” (Dennis Prager, Daily Signal)

* “Oh Scientia! Oh Mores!” (Jonathan Goldberg, National Review)

* “Stunning testimony: Voting machines can be hacked without a trace of evidence” (Stephen Dinan, Washington Times)

* “Union Bosses Have Too Much Control. It’s Time to Protect the Rights of American Workers” (Rep. Phil Roe, Daily Signal)

* “The Devil's Silence” (Erick Erickson, Town Hall)

* “Study: The Liberal Media’s Summer of Pummeling Trump” (Rich Noyes & Mike Ciandella, MRC Newsbusters)

* “Rep. Trent Franks: Life is a gift, Iceland, no matter what” (Rep. Trent Franks, Washington Examiner)

* “Seattle's Mayor Resigns After Fifth Allegation of Child Sexual Abuse” (Christine Rousselle, Town Hall)

* “Why ‘Dunkirk’ Is the Hit of the Summer” (Suzanne Fields, Town Hall)

Article Roundup: Ronald Reagan's Birthday Edition

* “Exposed: How world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated global warming data” (David Rose, Daily Mail)

* “Conservatives Offer Solution to Repeal Obamacare, Defund Planned Parenthood: Pass 2015 Bill Again” (Melissa Quinn, Daily Signal)

* “No Thug Left Behind: Obsessed with “racial equity,” St. Paul schools abandoned discipline—and unleashed mayhem” (Katherine Kersten, City Journal)

* “America's murder rate is rising at its fastest pace since the early 1970s” (The Economist)

* “Better School Choice in Nebraska – The Time is Now” (Nate Grasz, Nebraska Family Alliance)

* “Audi Just Stepped On A Rake With ‘Equal Pay’ Messaging In New Super Bowl Ad” (Bre Payton, The Federalist)

* “Life Sentence in Sudan for Czech Missionary” (Faith McDonnell, Juicy Ecumenism)

* “Struggling woman with dementia euthanised in Netherlands: Relatives had to hold her down so that the doctor could give the lethal injection.” (Michael Cook, Mercator)

* “Science, embryonic autonomy, and the question of when life begins” (Ana Maria Dumitru, Mercator)

* “Rogue Federal Bureaucrats Threaten Trump’s Agenda” (Fred Lucas, Daily Signal)

The Week That Was

Among the must-read articles from the last few days are these gems:

* “President Obama Gives One Of The Most Repulsive Speeches In American History In Hiroshima” (Ben Shapiro, Daily Wire)

* “A nation of Peter Pans: We have created a country filled with perpetual children” (Dr. Keith Ablow, Fox News)

* “Make America great again? Start with marriage, Mr Trump.” (Caitlin La Ruffa and Hilary Towers, Mercator)

* “All of Hillary Clinton’s Lies Are Premeditated” (Jonah Goldberg, NRO)

* “D.A. Admits Breaking the Law When Indicting Planned Parenthood Investigator David Daleiden” (Cheryl Sullenger, Life News)

* “Bill Nye the Scientism Guy” (Willie Soon, Town Hall)

You Say You Missed These?

* “Time to Wean Millennials Off the Lies of Socialism” (Jay Richards, The Stream)

* “What Happens to Conservatism Now?” (Maggie Gallagher, National Review)

* “The Transgender Juggernaut: When Sanity Became a Crime” (Michael Brown, The Stream)

* “A Part-time Law Lecturer vs. the Constitution” (Clarice Feldman, American Thinker)

* “How corporate America bought Hillary Clinton for $21M” (Michael Walsh, New York Post)

* “Green Weenie of the Week: The Portland School Board” (Steven Hayward, Power Line)

* “Federal Judge Issues ‘Extraordinary’ Order Sanctioning the DOJ for Misconduct in Executive Amnesty” (David French, National Review)

* “Facebook’s Troubling One-Way Mirror” (Jim Rutenberg, New York Times)

Important Dispatches from the Culture Wars

* “New Chicago Schools Bathroom Policy Proves Liberals’ Extreme Agenda” (Roger Severino, Daily Signal)

* “Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News” (Michael Nunez, Gizmodo)

* “Nursing homes turn to eviction to drop difficult patients” (Matt Sedensky, Associated Press)

* “Trump, the Republican Party, and the Future of Conservatism” (Steve McCann, American Thinker)

* “An Inconvenient Truth: Liberal Climate Inquisition Can’t Explain Past Temperature Changes” (David Kreutzer, Daily Signal)

* “Observations along the road to ruin” (Clifford May, Washington Times)

* “A Confession of Liberal Intolerance” (Nicholas Kristof, New York Times)

* “Why Middle Eastern Leaders Are Talking to Putin, Not Obama” (Dennis Ross, Politico)

Wow...Did You Catch This One?

Catching up on your alternative media reading? Here's some of the best articles from recent days.

* “No, America Doesn’t Have a Christian Terrorism Problem” (David French, National Review)

* “WaPo: Let’s hold free speech guilty for the acts of a lunatic, shall we?” (Ed Morrissey, Hot Air)

* “How the Left Hijacked a Tragedy to Serve Their Pro-Abortion Agenda” (Rich Lowry, National Review)

* “How Uncle Sam chases away US jobs” (Paul Mueller and Brian Brenberg, New York Post)

* “Obama Apologizing to the World for US on Climate Is Ridiculous” (Nicolas Loris, The Daily Signal)

* “Eight Questions Republican Candidates Should Answer” (Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review)

* “17 of the 100 Ways This Senator Says the Government Wastes Your Money” (Leah Jessen, The Daily Signal)

* “Yesterday’s Giants, Today’s Dwarves” (Victor Davis Hanson, National Review)

* “Is the antibiotic apocalypse nigh?” (Michael Cook, BioEdge)

Reports from the Culture Wars

* “Hillary Clinton: U.S. Should Fund Abortions Around the World as a Method of Family Planning” (Micaiah Bilger, LifeNews.com)

* “Producer of ABC’s Scandal, Showing Abortion During “Silent Night,” Sits on Planned Parenthood Board” (Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com)

* “Obama is dangerously nonchalant about ISIS threats” (Michael Goodwin, New York Post)

* “Political Translations” (Thomas Sowell, Jewish World Review)

* “Ohio State law school under microsope for reaction to pro-life column”  (Valerie Richardson, Washington Times)

* “Antonin Scalia, Bogeyman of the Liberal Imagination: The justice stars in Hollywood revenge fantasies” (Christopher Scalia, Weekly Standard)

* “Annals of Inanity” (Scott Johnson, Power Line)

* “ObamaCare Endures the Death of a Thousand Facts” (David Catron, American Spectator)

Catching Up From the Weekend's Reading

Among the most noteworthy articles from this weekend...

* “Obama’s week of jaw-dropping follies” (Ed Rogers, Washington Post)

* “Obama Makes Up Facts - Again” (Douglas Murray, Gatestone Institute)

* “Abortion, Inc.: Cecile Richards’ Planned Parenthood” (Americans United for Life)

* “The fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever” (Christopher Booker, Telegraph)

* “The Scorching of California: How Green extremists made a bad drought worse” (Victor Davis Hanson, City Journal)

* “On the Bright Side, We’ll Only Be $20 Trillion in Debt” (John Hinderaker, Power Line)

* “Man in vegetative state for 12 years wakes up to tell remarkable story” (Fox News)

* “Lying Isn’t What It Used To Be” (Paul Mirengoff, Power Line)

* “Why do Nebraska reporters ignore senator’s racist rants?” (Deena Winter, Nebraska Watchdog)

Important Reads

* “Obama Again Shows His Contempt for America & the West” (Paul Mirengoff, Power Line)

* “Horse Pucky from Obama : The president’s comparison of Christianity to radical Islam defies logic.” (Jonah Goldberg, NRO)

* “A Jew Examines Why Obama Never Names Islam” (Roger L. Simon, PJ Media)

* “Man on a High Horse” (Scott Johnson, Power Line)

* “‘Amnesty Bonuses’ in Tax Code: Illegal Immigrants to Receive Earned Income Tax Credit” (Daniel Halper, Weekly Standard)

* “IRS knowingly rehired tax cheats, other employees with ‘performance’ issues” (Stephen Dinan, Washington Times)

* “Hundreds More Muslim Rape Gang Cases Discovered in UK” (Robert Spencer, Front Page Magazine)

* “Gallup CEO: Number of Full-Time Jobs as Percent of Population Is Lowest It’s Ever Been” (Video clip posted on Gateway Pundit)

* “Lies Are Lies Whether They ‘Offend’ Anyone Or Not" (Paul Mirengoff, Power Line)

Doomsters vs Boomsters? In Which Camp Are You?

Who do you side with, the Doomsters or the Boomsters? Have you, for instance, bought into the alarmism over population growth? Do you believe in the violent end of society as we know it because we’re running out of oil? Do you still feel the chills when you remember what your public school teachers taught you from the books of Paul Erlich and Rachel Carson?

Then you need to check out the calmer, more sensible perspectives from people who value reality over panic, genuine scientists who bring evidence to the table instead of political and ideological fixations.

A great start — and, I mean, a really great start — is to watch these two short videos. They are enlightening to the max. They’re also very well done, using both facts and fun to communicate remarkably important messages. Theses quick films are entitled “Why Haven’t We All Starved to Death” and “Why Haven’t We Run Out of Oil?” They are produced by Passing Lane Films from Pacific Research Institute. They are written and directed by Erin Michelle Kruger and are based on “Environmental Alarmism in Context: Hysteria’s History” by Dr. Amy Kaleita with Gregory R. Forbes. 

(Thanks to Stephen Hayward over at Power Line for the alert.)

Up To Speed: Today's Important Reads

* “Harper’s Magazine urges readers to ‘Stop Hillary! Vote No’” (Page Six Team, NY Post)

* “A Church in Exile: Hillsong Shifts on Homosexuality” (Andrew Walker, First Things)

* “Hillsong Church, Relevance & Pariahs” (Mark Tooley, Juicy Ecumenism)*

* “Incompetence Meets Mendacity in Obama Administration’s Ebola Response” (Andrew C. McCarthy, NRO)

* “The Vatican Backpedals on Support for Gays and Divorcees” (Allen McDuffee, Atlantic)

* “Voters Poised to Hit Brakes on Obama, Dems” (Salena Zito, Real Clear Politics)

* “Pets Allowed: Why are so many animals now in places where they shouldn’t be?” (Patrica Marx, The New Yorker)

* “Gay Marriage vs Religious Freedom, The Latest Installment” (Paul Mirengoff, PowerLine)

* “Kerry: Extremism Not Linked to Islam; Factors Include Deprivation, Climate Change” (Patrick Goodenough, CNS News)

Ten Eco-Villains the Green Movement Ignores

To mark last week's global commemoration of Earth Day, the wise and witty guys over at Mercator opted to skip the whining against big oil which mark practically all the stories you hear from the old guard media. Instead, they listed 10 major ecological problems that never get mentioned.

I'm going to list the ten eco-villains they name below but you really need to go check out the paragraph or two of supporting information that the Mercator writers provide for each culprit. It makes for eye-opening reading indeed.

It’s Earth Day again, an occasion on which to reflect on our sins against the environment and make resolutions to clean up our act. We are familiar with the usual suspects: overpopulation, oil companies, overpopulation, chocolate, cattle farmers, the coal industry… and did I mention overpopulation?

Well, forget all that. Here’s our top 10 eco-villains, most of them getting away with ecological murder to date.

1. Underpopulation. 

2. Big cities. 

3. Consumerism.

4. Solo living. 

5. Big government. 

6. Coffee. 

7. Weather in the United States. 

8. People who don’t like being cold (and that’s most of us). 

9. Facebook. 

10. Al Gore. 

Looking for Today's Most Important Reads?

* “Progressivism’s War on Winners” (Mary Eberstadt, NRO)

* “Obamanomics Is Ticking Time Bomb For Millennial Generation” (Salvator J. Lamastra V, Investor's Business Daily)

* “My Family's Misadventures With Obamacare, Continued” (Michelle Malkin, RCP)

* “Global Warming Alarmists Caught Doctoring '97-Percent Consensus' Claims” (James Taylor, Forbes)

* “What Could Go Wrong? Millennials are underemployed, unhitched, and unchurched at record rates.” (W. Bradford Wilcox, NRO)

Reading for Your Weekend

Besides the articles mentioned above (and, of course, those linked to earlier in the week here on Vital Signs Blog), here are a few more excellent reads that deserve your attention.

* "Sharing the Truth about the Unborn with Your Friends and Neighbors” Randy Alcorn, EPM)

* “Britain’s Lost Girls: Sex-Selective Abortions Claim Thousands of Daughters” (Alec Torres, NRO)

* “To Each According to His Delusions: Karl Marx, call your office.” (Larry Thornberry, American Spectator)

* “Politics Versus Education” (Thomas Sowell, syndicated column)

* “Global Warming A Back Door To Socialism - And Now Even The UN Admits It” (Editorial, Investor's Business Daily)

A Few You Might Have Missed

Among the informative articles from the last few days, I found these particularly helpful. You might too.

* “Why Bridgegate made headlines but Obama’s IRS scandal didn’t” (John Podhoretz, New York Post)

*  “Asking the Right Questions about Pot” (Sally Zelikovsky, American Thinker)

* “BBC's six-year cover-up of secret 'green propaganda' training for top executives” (David Rose, Daily Mail)

* “Obama’s growing pains: The trouble with the President's economic agenda” (Editorial, New York Daily News)

* “Professor to Return to Classroom after Having TAs Dress like ‘Whores’ for Lesson” (Andrew Johnson, NRO)

* “How Bad Is Obama's Jobs Record? Let's Count The Ways” (Editorial,  Investor's Business Daily)

Oh, the Icy Irony of It All

A Few "Don't Miss" Articles

* "Obama’s Massive Fraud" by Andrew C. McCarthy at NRO.

* "Abortion Groups Target Judge for Saying Abortion Kills a Baby" by William Saunders and Mary Harned for LifeNews. 

* "Adding Another Lie To The Pile," an editorial from Investor's Business Daily. ("At the very moment President Obama was supposedly saying sorry for his "keep your plan" lie, he told a brand-new one when he claimed that just 5% are at risk of losing the health plans they like.")

* "Why Does the Global Warming Hoax Persist?" by John Hinderaker over at PowerLine.

* "Be wary of Christie, the mainstream media’s new favorite Republican" by Joseph Curl at the Washington Times.