NEW YORK ― Republicans are trying to find a way to defund Planned Parenthood as part of an overall effort to limit abortion in America. But doing so had the opposite effect in Texas, according to a new study based on research from Texas A&M University.
The study, conducted by economics professor Analisa Packham (now at Miami University), shows that in the first three years after Texas Republicans slashed the family planning budget in 2011 and shut down more than 80 women’s health clinics, the abortion rate among teenagers in the state rose 3 percent over what it would have been had the clinics remained open. After cutting Planned Parenthood out of the state’s subsidized women’s health program, then-Gov. Rick Perry (R) said his “goal” was to “ensure abortions […]
Christian author Eugene Peterson
Credit: Twitter.com
A popular Christian author is on the receiving end of a vicious backlash after he said in an interview that LGBTQ people can be Christians and lead lives of devotion and spiritual faith.
Pink News reported Thursday that The Message author Eugene Peterson told Religion News Service that his formerly anti-LGBTQ views have evolved into a place of tolerance and acceptance.
“I wouldn’t have said this 20 years ago, but now I know a lot of people who are gay and lesbian and they seem to have as good a spiritual life as I do,” Peterson said.
When asked whether the Presbyterian Church should accept LGBTQ clergy, Peterson said that battle has already been fought and won.
“That kind of debate about lesbians and gays might be over,” he said wryly. “We’re in a transition and I think it’s a transition for the best, for the good… it’s not a right or wrong thing as far as I’m concerned.”
The comments prompted a furious backlash from some evangelicals, including the LifeWay chain […]
Many scientists say it’s abundantly clear that Earth is entering its sixth mass-extinction event, meaning three-quarters of all species could disappear in the coming centuries.
We’re missing billions in taxes each year. That’s partly why our roads and transit systems are falling apart. (Mural by graffiti artist Alec Monopoly /
Credit: aisletwentytwo | Flickr
If you find yourself traveling this summer, take a closer look at America’s deteriorating infrastructure — our crumbling roads, sidewalks, public parks, and train and bus stations.
Government officials will tell us “there’s no money” to repair or properly maintain our tired infrastructure. Nor do we want to raise taxes, they say.
But what if billions of dollars in tax revenue have gone missing?
New research suggests that the superrich are hiding their money at alarming rates. A study by economists Annette Alstadsaeter, Niels Johannesen and Gabriel Zucman reports that households with wealth over $40 million evade 25 to 30 percent of personal income and wealth taxes.
Destabilizing levels of income inequality, once a problem reserved for developing nations, is now a defining social and political issue in the United States.
Donald Trump seized on the issue during the presidential campaign, vowing to become a voice for forgotten Americans left behind by decades of widening wealth disparities.
While America’s enormous gap between rich and poor and the sorry state of its middle class are well-documented, a less prominent trend tells an equally important story about the American economy: the divide between the well-off and the stratospherically rich.
This particular pattern is especially important since some economists and conservative commentators have tried to blame inequality on educational levels, arguing that those with college degrees have fared well in the so-called knowledge economy while those with a high school diploma or less lack the skills to do the jobs available.
Others, however, point to runaway salaries for top executives in industries like energy and finance as the key underlying drivers of inflation, which has been characterized by huge gains at the very top of the income distribution. Executive compensation is driven in large part by corporate boards that have cozy relationships with firms’ CEOs, rather than market forces.
From Aspen, Colorado, the New York Times columnist David Brooks […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
