Sen. Lee Introduces Bill to Make Mexico City Policy Permanent
WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation Friday that would make the administration’s “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” policy, formerly known as the Mexico City Policy, permanent statutory policy.
“The administration’s ban on funding overseas organizations that promote abortion has already saved and will continue to save countless lives across the globe,” Lee said. “We cannot leave the fate of these regulations up to the whims of successive presidents. Congress must now step up and do what they can to turn the ‘Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance’ executive order into law.”
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan established the ‘‘Mexico City Policy,’’ which prohibits foreign aid for family planning purposes from being given to foreign nongovernmental organizations that provide or promote abortion as an option for family planning, regardless of the source of funding. When applied, this prohibits any foreign private or nonprofit entity from receiving US family planning foreign assistance that provides or promotes abortion.
President Clinton and President Obama overturned the policy in 1993 and 2009, respectively. Apparently, they supported U.S. taxpayer dollars being used to end new life or to promote abortion.
The Department of State restored President Reagan’s policy in May of 2017 and renamed it “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance.” As part of this modernization, the policy was expanded to cover all Federal aid, not just family planning assistance.
An online version of this release can be found here.
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Sen. Lee Introduces Bill to Make Mexico City Policy Permanent
WASHINGTON – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation Friday that would make the administration’s “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” policy, formerly known as the Mexico City Policy, permanent statutory policy.
“The administration’s ban on funding overseas organizations that promote abortion has already saved and will continue to save countless lives across the globe,” Lee said. “We cannot leave the fate of these regulations up to the whims of successive presidents. Congress must now step up and do what they can to turn the ‘Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance’ executive order into law.”
In 1984, President Ronald Reagan established the ‘‘Mexico City Policy,’’ which prohibits foreign aid for family planning purposes from being given to foreign nongovernmental organizations that provide or promote abortion as an option for family planning, regardless of the source of funding. When applied, this prohibits any foreign private or nonprofit entity from receiving US family planning foreign assistance that provides or promotes abortion.
President Clinton and President Obama overturned the policy in 1993 and 2009, respectively. Apparently, they supported U.S. taxpayer dollars being used to end new life or to promote abortion.
The Department of State restored President Reagan’s policy in May of 2017 and renamed it “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance.” As part of this modernization, the policy was expanded to cover all Federal aid, not just family planning assistance.
An online version of this release can be found here.
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2019: The Year to Examine Toxic Masculinity
by Laura Finley
518 words
Toxic masculinity strikes again, this time in Provo, Utah on the day of the 2019 Women’s March. Police were alerted to the problem when Christopher Cleary posted on his Facebook page that All I wanted was a girlfriend. All I wanted was to be loved, yet no one cares about me I’m 27 years old and I’ve never had a girlfriend before and I’m still a virgin, this is why I’m planning on shooting up a public place soon and being the next mass shooter cause I’m ready to die and all the girls the turned me down is going to make it right by killing as many girls as I see.”
Cleary was arrested on a charge of felony threat of terrorism. Although no official link has been made, it appears that Cleary identifies with incel culture, which blames women for their lack of relationships. Cleary is already on probation for stalking and harassing a woman in Colorado.
This week also saw heated discussion on what to do with racist, sexist, privileged white boys. Several boys from Covington Catholic School in Kentucky had what appeared to be a confrontation with Native American elder Nathan Phillips at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., whilst wearing “Make America Great Again” hats. While the boys argue that Phillips was the aggressor, and that despite video showing disdainful smirks, they were not doing so, the situation ignited passionate discussion. What also emerged, however, was reports that the same boys had sexually harassed some young women. Details are still emerging, but as would be expected, President Trump weighed in, referring to the various videos and media discussions of the incident as smears.
Still not done. In the last two weeks, musicians R. Kelly and Chris Brown were both (again) embroiled in abuse scandals. Sony reportedly dropped R. Kelly after repeated allegations, detailed in a new documentary called Surviving R. Kelly. Brown, who was sentenced to five years of probation for beating his former girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, was accused of sexual assault by a model in Paris and has been arrested by French police.
At the same time, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued new guidelines about the dangers of toxic masculinity. It emphasizes that while men still dominate powerful positions in the U.S, they also suffer in unique ways. Life expectancy is shorter, and men are far more likely to be the victims of both homicide and suicide, among many other health measures. The basic focus of the guidelines is that “traditional” masculinity, or what sociologists have called hegemonic masculinity, which emphasizes stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression, is bad for both men and women.
That these things keep happening so frequently is absolutely disgusting. Yet, perhaps the confluence of incidents and the ongoing debates might actually lead to something good. It is far past time for the U.S. to follow Finland, for instance, and begin teaching about gender role norms and equality to our children. For those of us who are educators, we absolutely must help both young men and women understand the devastating effects of toxic masculinity for everyone.
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Laura Finley, Ph.D., syndicated by PeaceVoice,teaches in the Barry University Department of Sociology & Criminology.
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When 70-year-old Adele received an order from Amazon and realized it wasn’t what she expected, she brought it to the post office to return it. This was the first mistake in a long and frustrating saga for Adele who almost gave up on returning the item she purchased entirely, before turning to her friend Liz M. Weiman for help. As a technology instructor, author, and founder of the educational platform iWorkshopAcademy.com, Liz was able to guide Adele through the Amazon return process and has helped countless others understand and better utilize technology across platforms.
“Some of the difficulties seniors and boomers face with technology are as simple as not understanding that the three line symbol on a mobile webpage is a drop down menu,” says veteran tech expert Liz M. Weiman. “The world of technology is increasingly becoming condensed, hyphenated and riddled with symbols that are not intuitive to individuals who did not grow up using it. For many older citizens, the technology that is supposed to make life simpler creates endless amounts of inconvenience, agitation, and feelings of alienation.”
