News Weakly - 11/19/22

"Believe Us! We Know!"
Last September President Biden declared the COVID pandemic was over. The WHO said that COVID deaths were down 90% since February. HHS has extended the emergency to mid-January. Because we know we can trust our government, our scientists, our media, our overlords.

Another One Bites the Dust
It is, unfortunately, the history of the church and its associates. Take, for instance, universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Oxford. All started as religious institutions; all lacking any connection to their roots anymore. Now Calvin University in Michigan has voted to allow faculty that dissents with biblical (and denominational) rules on sexual immorality to remain in good standing. The CRC codified its opposition to homosexual sex, so the university has opted to eliminate that requirement "while remaining committed to upholding the confessional standards of the CRC," an obvious impossibility. (1 John 2:18-19).

Locked and Loaded
The big political news, of course, is that the Republicans won a majority in the House. That means that Pelosi won't be the Speaker, and America could use less of her speaking. It doesn't mean government will be better. Since both the House and the Senate are almost numerically identical, it means likely deadlock in Congress for a while. But is a deadlocked Congress really a bad thing, given the alternative of a really bad Congress?

Wave Goodbye
So, the question remains. Why was there no "Red Wave"? History and current events (inflation, gas prices, etc.) suggested a sure shift, but what we got was a small shift. The experts suggest it's because of Trump's shadow ("threat to democracy") and, especially, abortion. Apparently Americans are so keen on being allowed to have post-sex contraception and sin without consequences that they will vote stupidly to get it. Oddly enough, with the resulting deadlock, they didn't.

Values Clarification
The House already passed the so-called "Respect for Marriage Act" back in July and now that a change of Senate influence is at hand, they advanced the bill to begin debate in a 62-37 vote. There is considerable pushback from some because the bill would "write marriage equality into federal law and protect it from Supreme Court action." And, by "marriage equality" they mean some very broad things. Ostensibly, the point is to make it illegal for you to believe that marriage is solely between a man and a woman. It does not mean that nonprofit religious organizations will have to provide for them. It does not mean that the government will recognize polygamy ... because that still falls outside of the current "definition" of "marriage" that we're supposed to "respect." What it will do is repeal the "Defense of Marriage Act" ... which is how we show respect for marriage. And the fact that so many Republicans (including Mitt Romney) voted for it is disturbing. What else will we be required to "respect" ... by radical redefinition?

Fake News
Trump popularized the term, "fake news." The Bee took it on as a tagline, so they are "Fake news you can trust." Here's the problem. "Fake news" is not a fake concept, and our modern news media has become so corrupt (on both sides) that it's really, really hard to tell what is or isn't "fake news." The Bee's satirical headline (October 7, 2016) read, "Captain America Rebooted as Feminist, Atheist, Transgender Hydra Agent" and in March, 2021, Marvel rebooted Captain America as a female LGBT activist. In May of 2017 the headline read, "'2 + 2 = 4,' Insists Closed-Minded Bigot" and in December of 2021 USA Today published an article about math being racist. A headline in May, 2019, read, "Man's Baptism Overturned After Instant Replay Reveals He Was Not Fully Submerged" and last February the news reported that a pastor baptized people for decades using one wrong word. Now those are all considered invalid. So what is fake news and what is not? Really?