Every 300,000 years or so, the Earth's magnetic poles flip.

MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart and Eugene Daniels welcomed Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern to Saturday’s installment of The Weekend to react to the Supreme Court upholding Tennessee’s law that bans so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors earlier in the week. As Stern would tell it, the Court refuses to block “bigoted” laws that are necessary for people to live. Fumbling over his words, Daniels, who is still the president of the White House Correspondents Association, began with more of a declaration than a question, “Mark, the impact of this ruling on transgender youth, whether these kind of trigger laws are going to go into effect or they're feeling more as targets of this country, is what's happening here. That's the impact of what we're seeing.”     Stern began his series of lamentations by reminding people it isn’t just Tennessee, “Absolutely. And nearly half the states, as you said. There will now be laws in effect that prohibit minors from accessing gender-affirming care. And beyond that, a number of states, including big ones like Florida, are trying to extend this further to adults. To prohibit adults from accessing treatments that are considered necessary and sometimes lifesaving for transgender people.” As for the Tennessee case, Stern continued, “The Supreme Court only upheld these bans for youth. But in my view, the Court's reasoning really opens the door for states to extend it to adults. And I think this is a sign by the Court that the six conservative justices are just not going to stand in the way of these, I think, quite bigoted and openly transphobic laws that are designed to prevent trans people from living and flourishing in this country.” Ah, yes. If you agree with the left-wing British government that minors should not receive gender-altering drugs, you’re a bigot. Daniels then further mourned, “And this is even if the parents of the kids say, ‘Yes, my child can take this hormone therapy or these blockers.’” Again, Stern was interested in the idea that promoting gender confusion in children is actually the compassionate thing to do: Absolutely right. And that was one of the arguments that the plaintiffs raised in the case, that parents have a constitutional right to direct their children's upbringing and their medical care, and in this case, the parents of the trans teenager wanted their child to access this care. They said that it was night and day before and after they started receiving hormones, that it was a wonderful way for her to truly live as her authentic self. The parents wanted this, the doctor wanted this, but the state legislature decided to override all of their judgments and impose a blanket ban, which will now be in effect, and this family may have to flee to a different state in order to continue that care. It is odd that whenever this topic is discussed, media people love to cite doctors that say the drugs are necessary, but they rarely, if ever, discuss how international opinion says the opposite, even in countries that are not exactly run by religious right types. Perhaps that should be a hint for the media to examine whether the science behind Stern’s claims is as solid as he claims. Here is a transcript for the June 21 show: MSNBC The Weekend 6/21/2025 8:51 AM ET EUGENE DANIELS: Mark, the impact of this ruling on transgender youth, whether these kind of trigger laws are going to go into effect or they're feeling more as targets of this country, is what's happening here. That's the impact of what we're seeing. MARK JOSEPH STERN: Absolutely. And nearly half the states, as you said. There will now be laws in effect that prohibit minors from accessing gender-affirming care. And beyond that, a number of states, including big ones like Florida, are trying to extend this further to adults. To prohibit adults from accessing treatments that are considered necessary and sometimes lifesaving for transgender people. So, the Supreme Court only upheld these bans for youth. But in my view, the Court's reasoning really opens the door for states to extend it to adults. And I think this is a sign by the Court that the six conservative justices are just not going to stand in the way of these, I think, quite bigoted and openly transphobic laws that are designed to prevent trans people from living and flourishing in this country. DANIELS: And this is even if the parents of the kids say, “Yes, my child can take this hormone therapy or these blockers.” STERN: Absolutely right. And that was one of the arguments that the plaintiffs raised in the case, that parents have a constitutional right to direct their children's upbringing and their medical care, and in this case, the parents of the trans teenager wanted their child to access this care. They said that it was night and day before and after they started receiving hormones, that it was a wonderful way for her to truly live as her authentic self. The parents wanted this, the doctor wanted this, but the state legislature decided to override all of their judgments and impose a blanket ban, which will now be in effect, and this family may have to flee to a different state in order to continue that care.

Republicans are having more babies than Democrats, and the difference has only increased in the Donald Trump era.Several reports, along with data from the National Center for Health Statistics and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show a clear relationship between red and blue counties and their fertility rates.Not only do fertility rates get higher the more a county votes for Republicans, but the contrast with Democrat counties is growing stronger over time.'We need a culture that values our children intrinsically.'According to a data analysis by the Institute for Family Studies, Trump support equals more families. For every 10% increase in Trump votes in 2024, there is an expected fertility rate increase of 0.09 in a woman's lifetime.The IFS also noted that in counties that had less than 25% of their votes going to Trump, like D.C., the median fertility rate was 1.31. In counties with a more than 75% vote share for Trump, the median fertility rate was 1.84. Of course, 2.1 or above is the ideal replacement rate, but the contrast is still large.Moreover, the gap in fertility rates has grown by 85% in the last 12 years.In the Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney era of 2012, there was an 8% fertility difference between red and blue counties. According to the IFS, that difference has more than tripled to a 26% difference in 2024.RELATED: America last: Hillary Clinton lets truth slip about illegal aliens and low US birth rates Image courtesy ifstudies.org In counties with more than 100,000 people, the "most Democratic" voter turnout correlates with a drastically lower fertility rate than the rest of the country, with a 1.37 birth rate. While moderate Democrat numbers are closer to the American average, the swing is big toward the "most Republican" counties, which average a 1.76 birth rate.The Republican fertility advantage can be directly attributed to marriage, says Grant Bailey, research associate at IFS."Republicans (and conservatives) marry at higher rates, and married adults have much higher fertility rates than do singles," Bailey told Blaze News. "With that said, even within marriage, conservatives have more children than their liberal peers."Bailey explained that even many married liberals never have children, and that drives an even bigger divide between the fertility rates across party lines.RELATED: Hormonal birth control: As bad for you as smoking Image courtesy ifstudies.org"It’s no secret that birth rates have been in free fall worldwide for decades and that continuing on our current course will spell economic and social disaster for many," Erika Ahern told Blaze News.Ahern, an author at CatholicVote and a mother of seven, said that increasing a family’s demand for children requires "a shift in how we as a society value children and family altogether."Ahern added, "Instead of emphasizing the cost and inconvenience of children, we need a culture that values our children intrinsically."According to CDC data, the top 10 states with the highest birth rates in 2023 were Republican, and the bottom 10 were Democrat.South Dakota is the only state with a birth rate above 2, at 2.01. Nebraska, North Dakota, Alaska, and Louisiana round out the top five.On the bottom end, Vermont has just a 1.3 birth rate, the worst in the nation. Other than Oregon, which ranks 48th on the birth rate list, the Northeast dominates the bottom of the rankings. Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island are all near the bottom, with birth rates of 1.4 or below.In 2022, Vermont, Wyoming, and Delaware had the fewest births by state in the country, with five states having fewer than 10,000. This can be attributed to population size for all but Vermont, which came in last on the CDC's fertility rate rankings for 2022.California had by far the most births of any state in 2022, approximately 420,000, but nowhere near the highest fertility rate; it was 11th worst.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

I’ve been in Italy for the past 10 days, and I’m bored. Yes, I’m bored, but not in the way you may think, and not for the reasons you may suspect. I haven’t been bored my entire time here. My tolerance for input has increased since becoming a father, and now anything less than chaos is kind of a boring breeze.The first week was packed to the gills. I was co-hosting a retreat centered around Josef Pieper’s "Leisure: The Basis of Culture." The days were full of stimulating, productive discussion with like spirits. Great food, great cigars, great beer, great sights, great minds, great insights, great developments. It was a busy week, a fruitful week.But the retreat is over, and now I’m bored. Missing the bickeringWhy am I bored? Because I am dull and just want to sit inside and watch television all day? No. I don’t like TV. Because I can’t entertain myself? No. I’m pretty creative. Because I don’t have a job or any obligations and thusly suffer from a kind of postmodern ennui? No. I have a job, that’s what I am doing here. Just yesterday, I drove eight hours south and will be here for the week taking photos for a photo book, writing, and working. I’ve been working ever since I landed.So then, why am I bored? Because I’m alone. My wife and kids are at home. All the yelling and screaming that I have become so used to over the past few years are on the other side of the world. The bickering over who stole whose toy first is still happening I am sure, but it’s out of earshot. The endless questions about cars, trees and if we are going to get ice cream later have been paused. The nagging feeling about safety — that feeling that wears you down over the course of the day — is absent from my quiet mind.Off-duty dadI would think I would love this trip all alone: the chance to be free of fatherly responsibilities for a couple of weeks; the opportunity to focus on work without distraction; the chance to be by myself again. But I don’t love it. It was fine for a couple days, novel in a way, but now it’s just kind of boring. My tolerance for input has increased since becoming a father, and now anything less than chaos is kind of a boring breeze. My love has expanded in a way that isn’t so easy to explain. It might be summed up by that feeling you get at the end of the day. You can’t wait for your kids to go to bed because you are exhausted and fed up, yet 25 minutes after they are sleeping, you feel the need to go into their room again and give them a kiss because you miss them. What the hell is that? One of the strange feelings that only parents know.Been there, done thatI’ve seen all this stuff before. I’ve been to Italy. I’ve already taken in all the vistas I’m taking photos of today. I’ve already experienced all this, and it doesn’t really interest me doing it alone. When I was 25 and single, sure. When I’m 38 with a wife and kids, not really. I’ve seen enough; I would rather show them. Some guys have a fear of settling down and starting a family. They are afraid of getting trapped or stuck with no way out. In a sense, they are right. When you have children, you are trapping yourself. You are forced together as a man and a woman. You are stuck forever as a father. You cannot go back. Your life is no longer only yours. You will never be as free as you were once before.Stretching the soulIt’s true in all the shallow, obvious ways. But it’s true in a deeper, stranger, more emotional way, as well. My soul has been expanded outward. It's broader than it was when I was just me. Yet, somehow, it didn’t become more shallow in the process. It’s actually grown deeper at the same time. It's one of the mysteries of love. It grows.I am no longer contained in a tight little shell that follows me wherever I go. I want to bring my kids with me, not out of duty — though duty is, of course, important — but because I am kind of bored without them. Because I want to share my world with them. It's not because I love them — though I very much do — but because I like them.From island to archipelago I know that as soon as I get home, the chaos will hit me like a two-by-four right in the face. I will be forced to dole out instructions and mediate arguments. I will be exhausted by the time 8 p.m. rolls around. I will snap my fingers once and sternly tell them to stop whatever it is that they are doing. But in all of that, I will be whole as I know myself to be at this stage in my life.Having a family means you are no longer only you. Your children are also you. Your sense of wholeness is deeper, yet more terrifyingly fragile at the same time. You are no longer protected and self-contained. You stop being an island and grow into an archipelago. What it means to be you means more than merely you.That’s why I am bored here in Italy. I’m here, but it’s only one part, and I miss the whole thing.

When you use a VPN, you expect software that you can trust. Unfortunately, it isn’t always as straightforward as that. Although the term “VPN” might give you peace of mind as you connect to the internet, not all VPN services are what they claim, with some of them secretly being based in China. If you know anything about international privacy laws, that will be a pretty shocking revelation. Continue reading Are you unwittingly using a Chinese VPN? MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card, Best gaming PC, Best SSD for gaming

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