Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Turkeys March West Comes to An End As It Embraces Russia, China
Aug 10th, 2019
CommentaryBURAK BEKDIL/GATESTONE INSTITUTE
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Ironically, it was an anti-Islamist, Kemalist Turkish general who first suggested that Turkey should align its foreign policy with the rising powers of Eurasia -- all of Europe plus Asia.

It was just eight months before President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power, and since then, has remained undefeated. The U.S. at the time was busy with the final touches on the military operation that would oust Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein, in March 2003.

General Tuncay Kılınç, the powerful secretary general of Turkey's National Security Council, said that Turkey should seek an alternative alliance with Russia and Iran. In November 2002, Erdoğan's AKP came to power, pledging to pursue pro-EU, pro-West, liberal governance, and wrongly accusing Kemalist ideology of being an obstacle against liberal democracy -- an incredible political story, to judge it 17 years later.

Few observers back then warned that Erdoğan's pro-West façade was fake and his deep adherence to political Islam, an enemy of the Western civilization, would one day urge him to seek non-Western alliances.

Ostensibly, the S-400 vs. F-35 conflict between NATO allies Turkey and the United States is a matter of East-West military disputes, reminiscent of several others the world observed during the cold war. It is not.

It was not a coincidence that in 2009 the Turkish military became the first NATO force to have joint military drills with the Syrian army. In 2010, Turkey became the first NATO member state to have exercises with China's air force.

In 2013, Turkey selected a Chinese company to receive a multi-billion contract for the production of its first long-range air and anti-missile defense system -- a decision Ankara later scrapped.

Just like those "shocking" moves, Erdoğan's decision to deploy the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system in Turkish (NATO) territory reflects his ideological anti-Western thinking. It was not a coincidence either that Erdoğan in 2013 demanded from Russian President Vladimir Putin a seat at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a Eurasian would-be replica of NATO.

"Allow us into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and save us from this [EU membership] trouble," Erdoğan told Putin. Turkey became the first NATO member state to become a "dialogue partner" with the regional body -- colloquially known as the Shanghai Five -- in April 2013. The SCO's members include Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

That statement alone should have sufficed to tell Turkey's Western friends in what direction Erdoğan's Turkey was heading. Turkey's choice of a Russian-made air defense system that is primarily designated to hit NATO aerial assets is a reflection of its anticipation of an aerial military conflict with a NATO member in the future.

But which one(s)? Does Erdoğan think it is likely that Turkey will engage in military confrontation over the Aegean skies with its traditional rival, Greece? Or any other European NATO member? The U.S.? Which NATO member's air force will attempt to hit Turkey with its aircraft or missiles? (The S-400 can engage targets at a range of up to 400km.)

As Turkey's "Western march" has come to a dramatic halt, the country has been increasingly aligning its foreign policy with the Eurasian bloc.

In simple terms, Eurasianism broadly encompasses the idea that Turkey should reorient away from the West in favor of an Eastern and Central Asian hinterland. Apparently Erdoğan's Turkey is an ideal theater: it can perform an oriental rehearsal.

No doubt, the S-400 is also a sign of Erdogan's disregard for Turkey's increasingly problematic place in the Western alliance. Erdoğan's ideologues keep on portraying the U.S. as an "enemy country," and many Turks increasingly buy that line. Seven out of 10 Turks now report feeling threatened by U.S. power, an increase of 28 percentage points since 2013 -- a higher jump than in any country recently polled.

NATO is not the only Western institution showing signs of wariness in keeping Turkey at bay. Turkey has been a troubling candidate for full accession to the European Union; at the moment, membership negotiations are blocked.

Turkey has completed only one of the required 31 "chapters" required for accession since it was given accession negotiations began in 2005. Political conflicts keep the procession process in deep freeze. Planned visa-liberalization talks between Ankara and Brussels are going nowhere.

EU's pre-accession financial assistance for candidates hoping to become members is being significantly reduced. New funding for the next phase of the "refugee deal" is uncertain. The deal was that Turkey would keep the mainly Syrian refugees on its soil, preventing them from flooding EU countries, and the EU would grant Turkey visa-free travel rights.

More importantly, in July, the EU decided to scale down the political dialogue and suspend negotiations on an aviation agreement, as a reaction to Turkey's drilling for oil and gas in contested waters of the Eastern Mediterranean.

While all this is happening, Erdoğan is trying further to establish Turkey as a reliable Eurasian partner, not just by instrumenting its rigid pro-Russian policy calculus.

In a recent visit to Beijing, Erdoğan repeated that Turkey would join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. His other words were also music to Chinese ears: Erdoğan mentioned Turkey's respect for "one China". The "One China" doctrine dictates that Chinese territory, including disputed Taiwan and Uyghur territories, are part of the People's Republic of China and cannot be divided. 

Erdoğan also pledged full cooperation against "terrorism" (read as full cooperation against the persecuted Uyghurs, an ethnic minority of Turkic descent in China who have been fighting for independence). According to an official Chinese report, Erdoğan, after meeting with Chinese President Xi

Jinping -- and disappointing tens of thousands of Uyghurs still living in Turkey -- pledged further support for China's policy not to allow any anti-Chinese separatist activity to operate from Turkey.

There is no doubt that Erdoğan will now strengthen relations with China, says Uzi Rabi, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. "He knows that the Chinese have a very multi-targeted policy. They attach military help with economic interests, and Turkey will have to consider it and accept it." 

Closer ties between Turkey and China will harm Washington's work in its trade war with China, said Rabi. Closer ties would create new trading partners for China, thereby giving Beijing a freer hand in its trade negotiations with Washington.

How ironic it is that Erdoğan has embraced Eurasianism -- the Kemalist ideology challenging Erdoğan's reformist, fake pro-Western ideas. In less than two decades, Erdoğan has embraced it as his main anti-Western policy.

These are the Sons of Israel. 1 Chronicles 2:1
Aug 10th, 2019
Morning MeditationF.B. Meyer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

IT is noticeable how irrevocable the Divine sentence is on a human life. Of Er, the grave, impartial voice of Scripture says, he was "wicked in the sight of the Lord"; of Achan, he was the "troubler of Israel, and committed a trespass in the devoted thing." These sentences are recorded with such precision as to admit of no dispute, no appeal; and they sum up the life.

But was there not much else in each of these men? Were there not tender or chivalrous moments? Did they never shine for a moment in some transfiguring ray? Was all their life dyed with these sad and somber hues? Ah, it may have been so ‑‑ still the one thing that the Scripture tells of them is the sin in which all their life seemed to culminate and express itself. With unerring accuracy God can distinguish the one act or word by which the character is revealed. He may forgive it, but He holds it up as the epitome or summary of what the life was.

Let us see how we live, walking before God with reverent fear, watching and praying, because any moment may give birth to a word or act which may characterize our life in all coming time. It must be remembered, however, that all these things emanate from the heart. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; but the issues of life proceed thence: it therefore must be watched with all diligence and care. What a man thinks, that he is. The chance word or act is a true indication of the inner life. Therefore it is preserved for all after‑time by the voice of God. See that your heart is perfect before God. There is forgiveness; but then is also the unerring verdict.

Temple Institute to Jews Worldwide: Build the 3rd Temple
Aug 10th, 2019
CommentaryBreaking Israel News
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

The Temple Institute has released a powerful new video to awaken world Jewry and reframe the traditional period of mourning into one of preparation for the rebuilding of the Third Holy Temple. 

Although millions of Jews worldwide will fast on the Ninth of Av (observed this year on August 11st) and strictly adhere to the other halachic requirements of mourning the destruction of the two Holy Temples, for too many the concept of rebuilding the Temple is like a far-away dream. These are the people the Temple Institute wishes to awaken from their slumber.

The video challenges the viewers' preconceptions of Tisha B'Av as a day of eternal mourning, evoking Isaiah's promise that the Third Temple is the secret of world peace and harmony and the hope of all mankind: "And is shall be at the end of days, that the mountain of the Temple of Hashem will be firmly established as the head of the mountains, and it will be exalted above all the hills, and all the nations will stream to it."

The video presents a dramatic twist from the usual Tisha B'Av messages of mourning. The Institute's goal is to emotionally shake up Orthodox Jewish communities worldwide by reframing the holiday, focusing away from the past and towards the future.

"The idea is for people to focus on the true meaning of Tisha B'Av," said Rabbi Chaim Richman, international director of the Temple Institute. "Tisha B'Av is not about just mourning, it is about acting to bring the Holy Temple back to the world - a 'House of prayer for all nations. 

Every year, millions of Jews worldwide robotically observe the mourning rituals of the three weeks, nine days and Tisha B'Av as if nothing has changed in the last century. 

Meanwhile, we are losing our connection to the Temple Mount because most of Orthodox Jewry have ignored the fact that it has been in Jewish hands for five decades. 

It's time to vote with our feet and send a clear message to the world that we truly believe that the Temple Mount is ours and we truly hope and pray for a time of unparalleled world peace and harmony with the re-building of the Third Temple. 

This new video is an emotional and visual tool to awaken world Jewry this Tisha B'Av and have them internalise the message that the dream of 2000 years is finally within our reach."

The Temple Institute is the center of research and preparation for the Holy Temple. 

In addition to educational activity focused on the centrality of the Temple Mount and Holy Temple, they have also recreated over 60 sacred vessels for use in the Third Holy Temple, which can be seen at their Visitors Center in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Lgbt Movement Goes Beyond Acceptance to Seeking Totalitarian Power
Aug 10th, 2019
CommentaryJONATHON VAN MAREN/BRIDGEHEAD.CA
Categories: Warning

As the culture wars heat up between the American Left and Right, progressive journalists are increasingly falling back on a powerful and succinct statement to push the public into a nostalgia for the Obama years: This isn't normal.

None of this, they write and tweet and blog endlessly, is "normal": Not the erratic presidential tweets, not the belligerent presidential tone, and not what they claim is Trump's "treasonous" behavior. I'm not unsympathetic to many of the arguments being made about civility, decorum, and the rest of the things that keep George Will up at night. But I do think that the media are engaging in a sophisticated game of gaslighting in the meantime.

What the media is doing while shrieking about our vanishing standards of normalcy is waging an all-out war on the idea of the male-female gender binary itself. While they are highlighting the abnormal nature of a president who tweets out spur-of-the-moment policy, they are pushing child drag queens and transgender children and pregnant "men" and "women" with penises as if these things were not an absolutely revolutionary attack on the social fabric of the West. 

We are supposed to believe that a president lashing out at the media is a catastrophic assault on The Way Things Were, and a child drag queen is a symbol of our liberation.

When I write about the latest manifestations of transgender ideology, some people ask a very reasonable question: Why can't we just ignore all this stuff? 

To many, following the media's strange "human interest" stories about Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner feeling "broody" and wanting children with a partner a half-century younger seems like Jerry Springer-style voyeurism. And in many ways, that's what it is. 

But it is important to realize that the media are utilizing America's obsession with the vapid lives of celebrities to normalize transgenderism. Pretty soon, things that once made people gasp will make them shrug. That's already starting to happen. People who were once outraged by Drag Queen Storytime and gender ideology in schools are becoming desensitized.

The media are flooding the airwaves with non-stop stories that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. The Pasadena Star News ruminated about whether the city might be open to nominating a transgender Rose Queen, a story virtually created by the media (a journalist asks an official whether it might be considered, the official responds with ambiguous language, and there's your transgender story).

Another story outlined the fact that "sperm production for transgender women" might yet be possible, while Victoria's Secret announced that they'd hired a transgender lingerie model - a biological male presenting as a women.

A couple in Berkeley, California came out to announce that both of their children, at ages four and eight, were transgender, and that they were going public to "normalize" hormone blockers and the rest of the devastating "treatments" that view puberty as a threat.

Not a day goes by without one media outlet or another pushing a story that treats the transgender ideology as fact. I'm not sure precisely when the media moguls met behind closed doors and collectively decided to begin using phrases like "her penis" and "his breasts," but a quick look at any article dealing with the transgender issue lately proves that such meetings and such directives did, in fact, happen.

What we're seeing with this calculated media campaign - even with the crazy transgender celebrity stories - is an effort to overload a skeptical public until they go from recoiling to rolling their eyes.

But politics is downstream from culture, and the LGBT movement is not simply seeking acceptance - they are demanding a particularly totalitarian form of power.

I don't enjoy writing about the transgender insanity that is gripping the West, especially not when it involves keeping up with these sorts of stories.

But it is essential that we recognize what is going on here. While they rage about Trump's tweets and advocate for a return to "normalcy," the Left is attempting to normalize an ideology that fundamentally upends our understanding of family, gender, society, and humanity itself.

This is nothing short of a revolution, and the consequences of this revolution will be the destruction of our society as we know it now.

Let the Headlines Speak
Aug 10th, 2019
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

Biden Goes All-In On The Race Issue
But Biden’s raising of the race issue is going to come back and bite him…

Putin covering up nuclear disaster?
Suspicions are growing today that Russia has suffered another nuclear accident after ambulances covered in protective film were seen transporting six people with serious radiation poisoning in a mystery explosion at a military base.

In first for Arab world, openly gay candidate runs for Tunisia presidency…
Baatour’s candidacy marks “a first which will without doubt be a benchmark in history”, his party said
A lawyer at the Court of Cassation, Tunisia’s highest court, the Liberal Party leader presents himself as a defender of LGBT rights.

Dayton killer’s demonic notebook scrawls… 
The warped loner, 24, declares himself a servant of ‘evil incarnate’ and rants about everything from schizophrenia to satanic rituals and massacres.

New Movie Has Blue State Elitists Hunting Red State Trump Supporters For Sport
Violent ads for a movie about blue state elitists hunting red state Trump supporters for sport have been pulled in the aftermath of the mass shootings. Studio executives say that they fear the tragedies will eclipse the ultra-dark and violent satire. TV station ESPN has yanked the trailer without waiting for Universal to make up its mind, opting not to air the clip at all in the next few weeks, according to a source at the station. “We pay for everything, so this country belongs to us,” one of the hunters says in a trailer which is still available on YouTube. The hunters reportedly pick their “prey” based on social-justice sins like using racist language on social media.

Man ‘Full of Anger’ Kills 4 in Southern California ‘Machete’ Rampage
According to the AP, Garden Grove police Lt. Carl Whitney told reporters the man’s motives appeared to be “robbery, hate homicide.” The suspect and all the victims were Hispanic, the AP reported.

Philadelphia Archbishop on Gun Control: ‘Only a Fool Can Believe That [It] Will Solve the Problem’
According to Chaput, who assumed his current position in Philadelphia in 2011, it’s foolish to believe “gun control” will make mass violence go away.

The space race is now, and America can’t afford delays
For the past few years the national security discussion rightly looked beyond our atmosphere to the next battleground. The latest threat assessment by the U.S. Department of Defense should dispel any myth that there is no space race. There is, and the U.S. is far behind. The proliferation of laser and cyber weapons as well as counter-space technology by our adversaries is deeply troubling. Fortunately, we are on the precipice of action to further U.S. space interests, unless that effort gets bogged down by personal agendas.

President Trump Readies Executive Order To Crack-Down Hard On Social Media Censorship Of Conservatives
According to Politico, the Trump administration is in the process of drafting an executive order that will “tackle Silicon Valley’s alleged anti-conservative bias”. And it is very much in President Trump’s own self-interest to do this. Social media played a key role in helping him win in 2016, but since that time we have seen an unprecedented wave of censorship on the major social media platforms, and most of that censorship has been directed at conservative voices.

Mexico cartel hangs bodies from city bridge in grisly show of force
The merciless dogfight between Mexican drug cartels has produced its latest macabre spectacle with the discovery of 19 mutilated corpses – nine of them hung semi-naked from a bridge – in a city to the west of the capital. Falko Ernst, an International Crisis Group researcher who studies Mexico’s cartels, said this week’s slaughter was clearly intended to intimidate rival criminal groups, the families of their members, as well as Mexican authorities.

NORAD intercepts two Russian bombers off coast of Alaska, Canada
U.S. and Canadian fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers near the Alaskan coast Thursday, North American military officials said. The North American Aerospace Defense Command — also identified by the acronym NORAD — said two F-22 and two CF-18 fighter jets intercepted the two Russian Tu-95 bombers as they entered the Alaskan and Canadian air defense identification zones.

NOAA now expects above-normal Atlantic hurricane season
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration increased the odds for an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season Thursday in an update to the forecast it gave nearly three months ago. Now that El Nino has ended, conditions are more favorable for more frequent and stronger named storms as peak hurricane season begins, the organization said.

Somali Refugees Accused of Plotting ISIS Attack Sought U.S. Citizenship
Two Somali nationals granted refugee status in the United States are accused of attempting to join the Islamic State (ISIS) and sought to obtain American citizenship. Last month, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that 21-year-old Ahmed Mahad Mohamed and 20-year-old Abdi Yemani Hussein — both refugees in the U.S. from Somalia — were arrested on suspicion that they were planning to join ISIS.

Democrats guilty of ‘the ultimate hate crime’
A policy-naked party that would kill a baby on its birthday, believes you can marry your cat and denounces the rule of law will hawk their moral superiority. And half of America will cheer them on. And so will the principal enemy of the people – the majority dishonest media, a media that has convinced nearly half of America that Russia elected Donald Trump – the most extraordinary hoax ever. This is the Democratic Party,…

Germany to put 92-year old former SS guard on trial for Nazi crimes
Bruno Dey who guarded the Stutthof death camp – where 65,000 people, including many Jews were killed – as a 17-year-old soldier is accused of preventing prisoners from escaping; ‘What use would it have been if I had left, they would have found someone else?’ he says

Powerful twin typhoons churn over Western Pacific as they close in on land
Twin typhoons were churning over the Western Pacific Ocean on Thursday, threatening to bring severe tropical impacts to multiple parts of Asia.

Iran is reportedly jamming ship GPS navigation systems to seize them
Ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf have reported unusual GPS interference, among other problems, and the US believes Iran is to blame.

Temple Watchers Say Foxes Spotted Walking Near The Western Wall In Jerusalem Is Fulfillment Of End Times Prophecy, But Is It?
The word ‘foxes’ appears exactly 8 times in the Bible, 6 times in the Old Testament and twice in the New Testament. None of the places where the word appears has any discernible connection to any known Bible prophecy regarding the rebuilt Jewish Temple in the end times. When you read a little deeper, you find that they are not quoting the Bible for their proof text, but the Talmud which is not the Bible, not scripture and not the word of God.

The White Supremacist Terrorists Are Coming…The White Supremacist Terrorists Are Coming!”
…some racist psycho murdered a bunch of people in Texas, so it’s time to “take the gloves off” again, pass some new kind of Patriot Act, further curtail our civil liberties, and whip the public up into mass hysteria over “white supremacist terrorism.”

New Zealand advances legislation that would decriminalize abortion
New Zealand is one step closer to decriminalizing abortion. New legislation passed Parliament by a 94-23 vote Thursday. If it gets final approval, the legislation would mark the first change to New Zealand’s abortion laws in over 40 years.

“Nobody Speaks For The United States”: Trump Bashes Macron Over Mixed Signals Toward Iran
President Trump took to Twitter Thursday to express frustration over the US “maximum pressure” campaign designed, according to prior statements, to bring the Iranians back to the table to “negotiate a better deal” after the White House’s unilateral pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal brokered under Obama. He slammed EU countries, particularly France, for sending mixed signals.

The Seven Steps of Genocidal Tyranny
Between researchers such as Mike Adams, myself and others, it has clearly been established that America is suffering from a bad case of false flag attacks. By the end of the first 24 hour cycle, the false flag nature of the El Paso shooting had already been established beyond a reasonable doubt. Now we have learned that the Dayton shooter was an Elizabeth Warren supporter and we are not totally certain about who he really is. Therefore, I am not going to waste anymore of time debating forensics, disputing eyewitness accounts which collaborate each other’s stories. America is looking, as I have already labeled it, a TET Offensive of false flags sponsored by the Deep State Left. End of story. Now, we are going to talk about why this is happening and, more importantly, where this is leading.

THE HUNT: Liberals Blame Trump For Mass Shootings As Hollywood To Release Movie About The Targeting Killing Of Trump Supporters For Sport
Whoever first said that ‘liberalism is a mental disorder’, I think it was Michael Savage, really hit the nail on the head with that statement. Think about it. At this very moment Leftist Liberal Democrats are blaming President Trump for the recent mass shootings, despite the fact that the Dayton shooter was a Leftist Liberal who hated Trump and wanted Socialism in America. But somehow, Trump is still the problem.

LGBTQ+ Activist Transforming Public Schools Freely Admits That Their Goal Is To ‘Train School Teachers To Completely Smash Heteronormativity’
The LGBTQ+P for Pedophile movement has no idea of any kind about wanting to ‘live in harmony’ with those around, no sir. They don’t want mere tolerance, they don’t even want you to grant them ‘acceptance’. So what do they want? As Elly Barnes so clearly states, they want to “completely smash heteronormativity“, that is to say they want to destroy the notion that being heterosexual is the normal way to be. Where does this idea of heteronormativity come from? It comes from the mouth of God.

Grass Gestapo Out Of Control: $30K Fine & Potential Foreclosure For Too-Long Lawn
While some people might think “Well, just cut your grass regularly and the government will leave you alone,” it isn’t always that simple…

Cities Without Children: the Cost of Our Urban Idols
Aug 10th, 2019
CommentaryJOHN STONESTREET/BREAKPOINT.ORG
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Yesterday, I told you about a district in northern India where, according to reports, not a single girl was born for three months. The main cause of the shocking gender imbalance we see around the world, and especially in India, is sex-selective abortion. 

In reaction, some of us may be tempted to think, "well, what do you expect from people who worship idols with blue skin and elephant heads?"

That would be exactly the wrong reaction. After all, Western countries have idols, too. Worshiping our idols also coincides with a lack of children, and not just baby girls.

Recently in The Atlantic, Derek Thompson points out that, despite a decade-long economic and cultural boom in our cities, America's urban rebirth is missing actual births. In fact, if current trends continue, the future of American cities is virtually childless.

Take New York City. Last year, for the first time in forty years, the Big Apple's population shrank during a non-recession year. Since at least 2011, the number of babies born in the five boroughs has declined by nine percent. 

In Manhattan, it's dropped 15 percent--again, despite a pronounced economic recovery. At this rate, says Thompson, the city's infant population will halve in thirty years.

Of course, part of this has to do with the rising cost of living in America's cities. Increasingly, the only people who can afford to move there are "rich, college-educated whites without children."

Still, Thompson makes a compelling case that, while it may appear that cost of living is changing the composition of our cities, it actually works the other way around. The modern city has become "an Epcot theme park for childless affluence, where the rich can act like kids without having to actually see any."

This explains why prices are climbing while population is dropping. According to U.S. Census and American Community Survey data, white college grads without kids have increased by 20 percent in America's urban centers since 2000, while families with kids have fled. 

Cities once had people of all ages and stages, but they've now become revolving doors for people of a particular description, at a particular moment in life. 

The gentrified, "brunchable" neighborhoods popping up everywhere and pushing families out aren't just temples to the idol of youthful self-indulgence. They also facilitate the worship of work.

The richest 25 metro areas in the country now account for half of the U.S. economy, and just five counties--mostly the famous "Silicon Valley," contain half of the nation's "internet and web-portal jobs."

This is the sort of environment in which only the young and childless can thrive. Companies that set up shop in these major downtown areas increasingly demand a set of life choices that Thompson dubs "workism"--delaying marriage and family in favor of intense, high-paying jobs that go largely to support adult-centric lifestyles. In other words, we're "swapping capital for kids."

This service to modern, urban idols not only results in cities devoid of children. It even has political effects, concentrating "blue" voters in tiny regions where their ballots won't change the outcome of elections. This deepens already sharp regional divisions and drives our nation's political fever ever higher.

According to Thompson, there are some things city governments can do to help reverse or at least slow the process of creating childless cities. Notably, add family-friendly spaces and more affordable housing.

Still, one need not read between the lines of the article to realize it's not just zoning laws that have turned our cities into theme parks for grown-ups.

The true blame should be placed on a culture that worships the wrong things. It's no coincidence that the country's highest abortion rates and lowest rates of church attendance are both found in cities.

Yes, developing countries who kill their children surely have a lot to answer for, but we in the West are only deceiving ourselves if we think our false gods are any less demanding.