Thursday, November 1, 2018

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'Big Bang Theory' creator Chuck LorreShutterstock
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‘Big Bang Theory’ asks God to inflict ‘Old Testament wrath’ on Trump supporters

October 31, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Big Bang Theory may be the most widely-viewed TV show in the United States, but its most recent episode ended with a message suggesting its creators want nothing to do with the Republican voters in the audience.
Creator Chuck Lorre, the mind behind dozens of successful series, has a tradition of ending his shows with “vanity cards,” blocks of text in episodes’ closing credits, covering a variety of topics. The card for the October 25 episode of Big Bang’s 12th and final season featured a “prayer” for the imminent midterm congressional elections.
“God, (I call you that even though I suspect thou art well beyond names and words and might actually be some sort of ineffable quantum situation), I humbly beseech thee to make thy presence known on November 6th,” it asked. “Demonstrate your omnipotence through us as we make ink marks on little circles in curtained booths.”
“Of course if you, in your divine wisdom, believe a fascist, hate-filled, fear-mongering, demagogic, truth-shattering, autocratic golf cheater is what we need right now, then, you know, thy will be done,” it continued. “But if thou art inclined to more freedom, more love, more compassion, and just more of the good stuff thou hath been promoting in our hearts or our parietal lobes — either one, doesn’t really matter — I submissively ask that thy encourage voter turnout in that general direction.”
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After asking God to “help” Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the card closes by asking Him to “remind those who collaborate with the darkness that thou art the light, and the light is not above whipping out a little Old Testament wrath.”
NewsBusters noted that Lorre’s previous vanity cards have mocked President Donald Trump and other Republicans on various grounds, though this latest card is his harshest yet. Previous cards also derided religion, from claiming “Big Daddy can’t save us” to mocking Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney for allegedly wearing “magical underwear.”
The CBS sitcom about the misadventures of nerdy scientists mostly keeps politics out of the show itself. Several jokes over the course of the series have mocked religion, primarily through the character of Sheldon Cooper’s stereotypically-Texan, born-again Christian mother (though the atheist Sheldon often falls victim to his own scientific hubris, and characters Raj and Howard are shown to have some degree of belief in Hinduism and Judaism, respectively).
Pro-lifers have praised the show for pregnancy subplots containing multiple affirmations of preborn humanity, including “my baby has functioning organs and can recognize voices,” and “you guys made a person.” American TV has a long historyof humanizing preborn babies based solely on whether or not a pregnancy is “wanted.” Conservatives have also praised star Mayim Bialik for championing modesty in sexually-charged Hollywood.
While Big Bang’s characters may keep their politics to themselves, the stars who play them are just as vocal as Lorre in real life. BialikJohnny Galecki, and Simon Helberg have all spoken out against the president and his supporters. Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon, is “married” to another man and also plays in a variety of dramatic productions with pro-LGBT messages.

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Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, October 20, 2018 in Sydney, Australia.Cameron Spencer / Getty Images
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Australian PM blasts transgender ‘nonsense’:  We’ll ‘never remove’ gender from passports

CANBERRA, Australia, October 31, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The prime minister of Australia took a strong stance against “non-binary” public documents for the gender-confused Tuesday, as the opposition party vowed to press the issue if it takes power.
The country’s Labour Party has released a draft of a national platform that commits to supporting identification options “beyond binary male/female” on government documents such as passports, the Daily Mail reports. The party will hold its triennial national party conference in December, where a finalized platform will be voted on.
The proposal claims that letting “people with intersex variations” exercise “autonomy regarding sex/gender markers, and obtain identification options that match their sex characteristics and/or gender identities, as preferred,” is necessary for gender-confused Australians to achieve “equal enjoyment of human rights without discrimination.”
Liberal Party Prime Minister Scott Morrison disagrees, however.
“A Liberal National Government will never remove gender from birth certificates, licenses and passports – who are Labor kidding? Get real,” he said. “This is the problem with Labor, obsessed with nonsense like removing gender from birth certificates rather than lower electricity prices, reducing tax for hard-working families and small businesses.”
Independent MP and pro-LGBT activist Alex Greenwich responded by claiming Morrison “should focus on being Prime Minister for all Australians, stop spreading misinformation about the gender diverse community, and start uniting rather than dividing Australians.”
The dueling comments follow a push by Labour and Green members to cut gender from birth certificates on the Australian island of Tasmania, The Guardian reports. They have introduced a series of amendments that would also bar the registrar of births, deaths and marriages from gathering information about children’s gender, let anyone aged 16 or older declare their “legally recognised gender,” and younger children to declare with the support of at least one parent.
“No other state or territory in Australia has taken the step proposed of removing gender from birth certificates,” Attorney General Elise Archer responded to the push. “For Tasmania to do so, in the absence of any proper consideration of the reform, exposes the state to a range of potentially serious unintended consequences.”

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Amazing first for UK: Doctors repair babies’ spines in the womb

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Society for the Protection of Unborn Children

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Amazing first for UK: Doctors repair babies’ spines in the womb

October 31, 2018 (Society for the Protection of Unborn Children) – In a week that has seen two parliamentary attempts to strip protections from unborn babies, especially in Northern Ireland, the press has been celebrating surgeons' ability to operate on babieswith spina bifida in the womb.
Huge operation
For the first time in the UK, surgeons have repaired the abnormally developed spines of two babies with open spina bifida, in separate operations this summer. Both sets of mums and babies are doing well, according to a statement by University College London Hospital (UCLH).
The operations brought together researchers from UCL working with NHS clinicians from UCLH and Great Ormond Street Hospital in partnership with University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium to carry out the operations in the UK for the first time.
Up until now, operations to repair the gap in the spine that develops as a result of spina bifida has been carried out after birth in the UK. However, the earlier it is repaired the better for long-term health and mobility. "It's fantastic," said UCL Professor Anne David, who has worked on bringing the surgery to the UK for three years. "Women now don't have to travel out of the UK. They can have their family with them. There are less expenses. So all good things."
How is the surgery done?
"Operating in the womb involves opening the uterus, exposing the spina bifida without delivering the baby, closing the defect and then repairing the uterus to leave the baby safely inside", said lead fetal surgeon Jan Deprest of UCLH and Leuven. "Closure of spina bifida in the womb using this method is an alternative to postnatal surgery, and has been shown to improve short and medium-term outcomes."
Researchers are also exploring less invasive keyhole surgery methods.
The 2017 Abortion statistics for England and Wales list spina bifida as the principal medical condition for 148 babies who were aborted that year because of disability. 
Published with permission from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.

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