No, not that the Democrats are exaggerating the significance of the ruling so that they can push the “War on Women” storyline.  Nor, in contrast, the fact that the ruling is fairly narrow by virtue of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act wording that the government has to use the “the least restrictive means of achieving a compelling governmental interest.”  See Ann Althouse’s write-up, among others, on the topic; she draws a contrast between this and anti-discrimination laws to explain. Look,... Read more

(I typed up the following yesterday, then let it sit to think about it.  I’m not crazy about it — it really needs a lot of refinement — but my core thought is still this:  people who are quite convinced that they can control the fate of their children and grandchildren, and do the right things to ensure they get the plum jobs that benefit from cheap labor rather than being imperiled by it, are the ones supporting open immigration.... Read more

Yes, playing on my post title from Friday (alternatively, I might have said, “the AAP has jumped the shark”), but the American Academy of Pediatricians has outdone itself this time.  You’ll remember them, of “no TV before age 2” fame.  The new policy is that pediatricians are instructed to recommend parents to read to their children daily, beginning in infancy. I originally read about this at joannejacobs.com, and here’s the description of the policy from the AAP News site, and the... Read more

This via hotair.com, and from there via time.com to bbc.com:  Sperm “donations” are down in the UK, and sperm-purchasers are looking outside the UK, with 1/4 of sperm coming from abroad, primarily Denmark and the U.S.  In addition, there is a concern that fertility clinics may resort to using poor-quality sperm, that is, sperm which can’t readily just be used for artificial insemination but only for more complex direct procedures.   Why?  in 2005, anonymous sperm donation was ended in... Read more

What follows is thoroughly unsourced in its key points, but still, something I was thinking about: The United States is becoming heavily Hispanic, and we’re told that the newcomers are key to staving off the demographic crisis of too many old people and a low TFR (total fertility rate) among native-born Americans, both simply by importing more people and by having higher-than-average birthrates.  See an old post citing a book which split out the TFR between native-born and immigrant women,... Read more

Is Obama intent on creating “facts on the ground” with respect to immigration, with the expectation that no one will be able to demonstrate standing to sue to stop him? Here are the latest reports: From thehill.com, “Democrats: No bluff, Obama will go it alone on immigration“: President Obama has delayed any potential changes to his deportation policy to allow House GOP leaders time to bring legislation to the floor this summer. But if the Republicans don’t act in July,... Read more

Ever watch a Big Cat Video? That is, a National Geographic or similar production on cheetahs, or lions, or leopards, etc. Back in the VCR, pre-On Demand days, I gave my husband a boxed set for Christmas one year, though we haven’t watched them lately, even though I suppose that now they’re probably readily available. The same storyline repeats itself regardless of species (except for lions): the hapless female stuggles to feed her cubs single-handedly, while a predatory male lurks... Read more

Here’s the latest on the surge of immigrant children from Central America: “DHS releasing illegal immigrant families from Central America into U.S. — but won’t say how many.”  And another article:  “Child migrants head for US to flee crime, drawn by belief they are allowed to stay,” which continues the storyline that while illegal immigrants are not “allowed” to stay, that is, given legal permission, they are able to live in some semblance of normality under-the-radar, working under-the-table, and this... Read more

So this is something of a vent after a frustrating day at work. I work in our international group, and coordinate valuations from other countries for our clients.  Today was a deadline, and we’d been chasing our actuaries in the Netherlands, who had said two weeks ago, that they’d have results by last week.  Now, yesterday, I finally got the reply from them that, not only did they not have the results, but they hadn’t even finished cleaning the input... Read more