In The News

DeVos Wants to Use Schools to Build 'God's Kindgom'

It's Christmastime in Holland, Michigan, and the northerly winds off Lake Macatawa bring a merciless chill to the small city covered in deep snow. The sparkling lights hanging on trees in downtown storefronts illuminate seasonal delicacies from the Netherlands, as well as photos and paintings of windmills and tulips, wooden shoes, and signs that read "Welkom Vrienden" (Welcome, Friends).

Defunding Planned Parenthood Would Hit Blue States Hardest

Planned Parenthood’s rallying cry has long been “our doors stay open.”

It’s been a defiant response to decades of attacks—political, legislative, and physical—against the nation’s largest provider of reproductive health care.

Cecile Richards repeated that promise at the Women’s March on Washington last month, in reference to statements from House Speaker Paul Ryan that defunding the organization will be a top order of business for the new Congress.

Obama 'heartened' by protests, spokesman says

Former President Barack Obama signaled his support for the protests in response to President Trump's controversial immigration ban, his office said Monday in his first major statement since leaving the White House.

"President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. In his final official speech as President, he spoke about the important role of citizen and how all Americans have a responsibility to be the guardians of our democracy--not just during an election but every day," Kevin Lewis, Obama's spokesman, said.

Holocaust Memorial Day: Only eternal vigilance can prevent a return to the hatred of the 1930s

Moshe Kantor President of the European Jewish Congress 
January 27, 2017
 

The theme of this year’s United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial Day – How can life go on? – resonates with the harrowing stories of those who survived the genocide. More than once I have heard survivors talk of having to teach themselves every day how to live.

Arkansas governor signs abortion law banning common procedure

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed into law on Thursday a bill banning the most common abortion procedure employed in the second trimester of a pregnancy, among the most restrictive abortion legislation in the United States.

The law, which takes effect later this year, prohibits dilation and evacuation, a practice that pro-choice advocates say is the safest method of ending a pregnancy but which supporters of the legislation call "barbaric," requiring the "dismemberment" of the fetus.

Trump Just Reinstated the Global Gag Rule. It Won't Stop Abortion, But It Will Make It Less Safe.

President Donald Trump reinstated an executive order Monday barring US foreign aid from going to any nongovernmental organization (NGO) that either provides abortion services, or even discusses abortion with its patients as an option for family planning.

A statement from Population Action International (PAI), a global family planning advocacy organization, called the move to reinstate the so-called global gag rule, “the beginning of the Trump-Pence administration’s agenda to punish women everywhere.”

Attorney General Nominee Jeff Sessions Is Lying Through His Teeth if He Says He’ll Protect Women’s Rights

Senate confirmation hearings aren’t exactly known as bastions of transparency. Actual honesty from nominees about personal beliefs and motivations is nonexistent, despite the fact that those are precisely what the Senate and citizens are hoping to discern from the hearing in the first place. Nominees have long understood that there are simple rules they must follow to avoid any fuss: Ambiguously affirm what everyone wants to hear, and leave all specifics out of it. Don’t get pinned down, and don’t piss anyone off.

The Black Swan of UNSCR 2334

United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2334 against the settlements is a “black swan.” Everything about it should have been expected, but its effect is potentially transformative, not only for Israel but also for American Jewry and for any of its key institutions — such as Federations, Hillels, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Jewish Community Relations Councils (JCRCs), AJC, the Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents, Birthright and the Israeli American Council — which are struggling to straddle the elusive “c

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