The Red Pope recently received members of the International Theological Commission (ITC) at the Vatican‚ where he told the gathering of theologians that “the Church is a woman.” He said the Church is “female” and needs to be “demasculinized.” I always think of God the Father and Jesus Christ as the head of the church‚ and […] The post The Pope Begs Theologians‚ “Please De-Masculinize the Church” appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

“Not build roads for today, don’t do it, spend all your money to the weapons, to the drones…and don’t cry because we are leaders and that’s it,” says Ukrainian president.

As he skipped a closed-door deposition House Republicans had scheduled for Wednesday to ask him questions‚ Hunter Biden — whose illegitimate daughter was repeatedly ignored by the White House and Biden’s family despite a test proving Hunter Biden to be the child’s father — spoke to the press‚ complaining that the Republicans who are investigating him “have no shame.” “We’re disappointed that he didn’t show up‚” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said. “He was just across the way at the Capitol. You’d think he could have come here and sat for questions. You do it in an open format now‚ you’re gonna get filibusters; you’re gonna get speeches; you’re gonna get all kinds of things. What we want is the facts‚ and the way you get the facts in every single investigation I’ve been involved in‚ is you bring people in for an interview behind closed doors where you can get those facts.” Biden addressed reporters outside the Capitol Building Wednesday morning‚ criticizing Republicans for their investigations into his foreign business dealings and President Joe Biden’s alleged involvement. “Good morning. I’m here today to answer at a public hearing any legitimate questions Chairman Comer and the House Oversight Committee may have for me. I’m here today to make sure that the House committee’s illegitimate investigations of my family do not proceed on distortions‚ manipulated evidence‚ and lies‚” he began. “And I’m here today to acknowledge I’ve made mistakes in my life‚ in wasted opportunities and privileges I was afforded. For that‚ I’m responsible. For that‚ I’m accountable‚ and for that‚ I’m making amends.” Then Biden attacked the “MAGA-Right”: “But I’m also here today to correct how the MAGA-right has portrayed me for their political purposes. I am first and foremost a son‚ a father‚ a brother‚ and a husband from a loving and supportive family. I’m proud to have earned degrees from Georgetown University and Yale Law School; I’m proud of my legal career and business career. I’m proud of my time serving on a dozen different boards of directors and I’m proud of my efforts to forge global business relationships.” Biden played the victim card: “For six years‚ MAGA Republicans‚ including members of the House committees who are in a closed-door session right now‚ have impugned my character‚ invaded my privacy‚ attacked my wife‚ my children‚ my family‚ and my friends. They have ridiculed my struggle with addiction‚ they have belittled my recovery‚ and they have tried to dehumanize me‚ all to embarrass the image of my father‚ who has devoted his entire life to public service. For six years I have been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine‚ shouting‚ ‘Where’s Hunter?’” “Well‚ here’s my answer‚” he boasted. “I am here. Let me state as clearly as I can: My father was not financially involved in my business‚ not as a practicing lawyer‚ not as a board member of Burisma‚ not in my partnership with a Chinese private businessman‚ not in my investments at home nor abroad and certainly not as an artist.” Biden turned to his addiction again: “During my battle with addiction‚ my parents were there for me. They literally saved my life. They helped me in ways I will never be able to repay. And of course they would never expect me to. And in the depths of my addiction‚ I was extremely irresponsible with my finances‚ but to suggest that is grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. It’s shameless.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP “There is no evidence to support the allegations that my father was financially involved in my business because it did not happen‚” he reiterated. “James Comer‚ Jim Jordan‚ Jason Smith‚ and their colleagues have distorted the facts by cherry-picking lines from a bank statement‚ manipulating texts I sent‚ editing the testimony of my friends and business partners‚ and misstating personal information that was stolen from me. There is no fairness or decency in what these Republicans are doing. They have lied‚ over and over‚ about every aspect of my personal and professional life; so much so that their lies have become the false facts believed by too many people.” “No matter how many times it is debunked‚ they continue to insist that my father’s support of Ukraine against Russia is a result of a non-existent bribe. They displayed naked photos of me during an oversight hearing. And they have taken the light of my dad’s love‚ the light of my dad’s love for me and presented it as darkness. They have no shame!” he declared. “These same committee chairmen have engaged in unprecedented political interference in what would have already been a five-year investigation of me. Yet here I am Mr. Chairman‚ taking up your offer‚ when you said‚ ‘We can bring these people in for depositions or committee hearings; whichever they choose‚” Biden said. “Well‚ I’ve chosen. I am here to testify at a public hearing today to answer any of the committee’s legitimate questions. Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics‚ expose their baseless inquiry‚ or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of?” Ignoring his refusal to attend the closed-door deposition‚ he boasted‚ “I’m here. I’m ready.” “Mr. Biden’s counsel and the White House have both argued that the reason he couldn’t come for a deposition was because there wasn’t a formal vote for an impeachment inquiry‚” Jordan said. “Well‚ that’s gonna happen in a few hours; we think it’s gonna pass. We think the House of Representatives will go on record with the power that solely resides in the House to say we are in an official impeachment inquiry phase of our oversight. And when that happens‚ we’ll see what their excuse is then.”

The New York Post said Tuesday that a lawyer for Harvard University “threatened” them for looking into plagiarism allegations against the school’s president. The Post said it contacted the university on October 24 asking for comment on 27 alleged instances in which Harvard President Claudine Gay’s work appears very similar to other academics’ words and phrasing. Harvard’s senior executive director of media relations and communications‚ Jonathan Swain‚ who is also a former Hillary Clinton aide and served as a member of the Biden administration’s transition team‚ responded by asking for more time to review Gay’s work‚ the Post said. The next day‚ Swain said he would “get back in touch over the next couple of days” but then did not respond after that. Then on October 27‚ a major Virginia attorney‚ Thomas Clare of the law firm Clare-Locke‚ contacted the Post saying he was Harvard’s and Gay’s defamation counsel. Harvard finally publicly admitted on Tuesday that the school had investigated Gay’s academic work for plagiarism‚ a day after the Manhattan Institute’s Christopher Rufo posted questions about Gay’s PhD dissertation on social media. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP In a letter to “members of the Harvard community‚” the college said the probe began in late October after the school “became aware” of allegations about Gay’s work. The investigation found “a few instances of inadequate citation” but concluded she had not violated Harvard’s “standards for research misconduct.” Harvard said Gay would request four corrections in two of her published works to insert citations and quotation marks that had been “omitted.” “In this tumultuous and difficult time‚ we unanimously stand in support of President Gay‚” Harvard’s letter added. The controversy around Gay’s academic writings comes on the heels of her highly criticized congressional testimony on Harvard’s response to anti-Semitism on campus. Gay along with the presidents of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania avoided answering whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated the universities’ codes of conduct. “It can be‚ depending on the context‚” Gay told the lawmakers. She said such hate speech is “at odds with the values of Harvard” and that when that kind of “speech crosses into conduct‚ that violates our policies.” Some of the academics whose work appeared very similar to Gay’s said they did not feel she had plagiarized them. However‚ Anne Williamson‚ a professor of political science at the University of Miami in Ohio‚ was less happy‚ even “angry‚” she told the Post. Gay’s 2017 paper “A Room for One’s Own? The Partisan Allocation of Affordable Housing” has phrases that are very similar to a 2011 paper by Williamson. “It does look like plagiarism to me‚” Williamson told the Post. “If they are going to do what they did‚ then I should be cited as a reference. My first reaction is shock. The second reaction is puzzlement. There was a way to draw from my paper. All she had to do is give me a credit.” Gay‚ 53‚ became Harvard’s first black president earlier this year.

Streaming platform Netflix has released viewership data for the first time ever after being asked to provide the information for years. The company report‚ “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report‚” will be published twice a year going forward‚ per a company memo. Although Netflix has provided weekly lists of top 10 movies and TV series since 2021‚ this is the first time the streaming service has released such a comprehensive report. The document accounts for hours viewed for every title (original and licensed) that was watched for more than 50‚000 hours‚ the premiere date for any Netflix TV series or film‚ and whether a title was available globally. This in-depth report includes viewership data of 18‚000 titles collected from January until June 2023. The top five most-watched titles are “The Night Agent‚” season 1 (812‚100‚000 hours)‚ “Ginny &; Georgia‚” season 2 (665‚100‚000 hours)‚ “The Glory‚” season 1 (662‚800‚000 hours)‚ “Wednesday‚” season 1 (507‚700‚000 hours)‚ and “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” (503‚000‚000 hours). CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP “This is a big step forward for Netflix and our industry. We believe the viewing information in this report — combined with our weekly Top 10 and Most Popular lists — will give creators and our industry deeper insights into our audiences‚ and what resonates with them‚” the memo continues. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said viewing hours are the most effective way to measure engagement.  “It’s easy to understand. It mirrors third parties like Nielsen in the US. It makes Netflix very easy to compare to other streaming services‚” the exec said during a conference call on Tuesday‚ per CNN Business. This move from the streaming giant comes on the heels of the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike this summer‚ which was due in part to a lack of transparency from streaming companies sharing their data. Netflix pledged to be more forthcoming with this type of information in the contract‚ ratified in October. Sarandos told reporters during the call that the “unintended consequence of not having more transparent data about our engagement was it created an atmosphere of mistrust over time with producers and creators and the press about what was happening.”

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced this week an investigation into Media Matters for America over accusations that the outlet intentionally misled readers about X to pressure advertisers to pull support from the social media platform.  Last month‚ Bailey indicated that he would be looking at Media Matters after it published an article claiming X was placing ads for major corporations alongside Nazi-related content. Musk responded to the article by filing a lawsuit and saying it was “contrived” and a “fraudulent attack.” After the report‚ several major corporations like Apple and IBM announced they would pull advertising from X. “We have reason to believe Media Matters used fraud to solicit donations from Missourians in order to trick advertisers into pulling out of X‚ the last platform dedicated to free speech in America. Radicals are attempting to kill Twitter because they cannot control it‚ and we are not going to let Missourians get ripped off in the process‚” Bailey said in a statement. “I’m fighting to ensure progressive tyrants masquerading as news outlets cannot manipulate the marketplace in order to wipe out free speech.” In a letter on Monday to Media Matters President Angelo Carusone‚ Bailey said that he believed the outlet might have violated Missouri consumer protection laws‚ “including laws that prohibit nonprofit entities from soliciting funds under false pretenses.”  Bailey told Carusone to preserve any communication regarding the outlet’s story on X and any communications on their “efforts to manipulate those advertisers into pulling their ads from the platform.”  Missouri’s investigation follows an announcement from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that he would be probing the outlet.  “We are examining the issue closely to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations who would like nothing more than to limit freedom by reducing participation in the public square‚” Paxton said last month.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Media Matters has responded to Paxton’s investigation by filing a lawsuit‚ arguing that he had violated the First Amendment.  “[The] chill imposed by his retaliatory scheme injures Plaintiffs’ ability to investigate and publish news stories and further chills their ability to participate in a robust public discussion around political extremism on the X platform‚” Media Matters lawyers claimed. Musk has claimed Media Matters was trying to undermine free speech on X because “they perceive it as a threat to their ideological narrative and those of their financial supporters.”

The Indiana Supreme Court in January will hear oral arguments regarding whether to reinstate the original defense attorneys representing the man accused of killing two Delphi teenagers in 2017. The court will also hear arguments on whether to remove special Judge Fran Gull from the case‚ WTHR reported. Concerned attorneys unaffiliated with the case had previously petitioned the court to replace her‚ citing alleged bias against the defense. The case involves Richard Allen‚ 51‚ who is accused of murdering 13-year-old Abby Williams and 14-year-old Libby German on a hiking trail back in 2017. Allen’s original court-assigned attorneys‚ Andrew Baldwin and Bradley Rozzi‚ were removed from the case in late October – the circumstances of which will now be reviewed by the state Supreme Court‚ which may reinstate the two attorneys. Baldwin and Rozzi allege that during a closed-door meeting with Gull‚ the judge threatened to harm the attorney’s reputation by accusing them of “gross negligence” in open court unless they withdrew from the case. The attorneys withdrew‚ but filed a petition to represent Allen pro bono. Judge Gull then barred them from representing Allen in any capacity. The transcript‚ first obtained by WTHR‚ shows the judge planned to remove the two attorneys prior to her public announcement they had withdrawn. At the meeting‚ which included Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland‚ the group discussed a leak of documents from Baldwin’s office‚ but Judge Gull stated that was not the only reason she wanted the attorneys removed from representing Allen. Gull said the attorneys “potentially” violated the Rules of Professional Responsibility. She told Baldwin he was “grossly negligent” for sending a sensitive email to a “Brad” who was not Rozzi‚ and questioned whether the two attorneys had fully cooperated with a gag order she had filed. She also said she had evidence the attorneys “left materials all over a conference-room table‚ accessible to anyone.” “It pains me to say this‚ but the totality of these circumstances demonstrate gross negligence and incompetence on the part of the defense team‚” Gull said. “I am unsatisfied with your representation of Mr. Allen. I am gravely concerned about his rights to have competent‚ non-negligent representation. He currently doesn’t have that right now.” Gull then said she told them this information privately but would say it in open court if they didn’t withdraw. From the transcript: Rozzi: “So basically‚ what you’re saying is ‘You guys either quit on your own accord or you make me fire you?’ That’s what-“ Gull: “No. I’m saying to you that this is my this is what [I] plan to say in court on the record when we convene at two o’clock.” Rozzi: “Well‚ so are – is the culmination of that that you’re removing us from the case?” Gull: “I will‚ based on what I’ve just shared with you.” A little later in the conversation‚ Rozzi told Gull she had “ambushed” him and Baldwin into a “forced resignation” without giving them a real opportunity to prepare for the meeting. “The options I’ve been given without any notice [from] the Court really are either I withdraw or I’m gonna be publicly shamed‚” Rozzi said‚ “And that’s the way I see this. And I think that public shaming is not only – there’s not only a professional element to that‚ I think there’s a personal element too.”

Two professional sports teams that have played in Washington‚ D.C.‚ for decades would move to nearby Virginia as part of a $2 billion tentative plan announced on Wednesday. The proposal‚ if approved‚ would move the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals to a new arena in the city of Alexandria at Potomac Yard by 2028 as part of an entertainment district‚ their parent company Monumental Sports &; Entertainment said in a statement. “We are committed to providing world-class fan experiences while continuously evolving our teams‚ deepening community ties‚ and solidifying our role as leaders at the forefront of sports and technology‚” said owner Ted Leonsis. “The opportunity to expand to this 70-acre site in Virginia‚ neighboring industry-leading innovators‚ and a great academic partner‚ would enable us to further our creativity and achieve next-generation‚ leading work – all while keeping our fans and the community at the forefront of everything we do‚” he added. DC just lost its two professional sports teams. Youngkin announces a $2 billion sports arena in Alexandria‚ Virginia. pic.twitter.com/oiomWbfL3D — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) December 13‚ 2023 Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin said the broader public-private partnership was worth $2 billion and would include a performing arts venue‚ esports facility‚ and mixed-use development in addition to facilities for Monumental Sports &; Entertainment and its properties. “This is the most visionary sports and entertainment development in the world‚ bringing together entertainment‚ sports‚ and technology in the most advanced innovation corridor in the United States: a once-in-a-generation and historic development for the Commonwealth‚ sports fans‚ and all Virginians‚” Youngkin said. “The Commonwealth will now be home to two professional sports teams‚ a new corporate headquarters‚ and over 30‚000 new jobs – this is monumental.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP Officials in D.C.‚ which has been rocked by a surge in crime this past year‚ announced a bid late Tuesday to keep the teams in the nation’s capital with legislation that would provide financing of $500 million toward the $800 million renovation of the Capital One Arena‚ which opened in Chinatown in 1997 as the MCI Center‚ over a period of three years beginning in 2024. “Downtown DC is the District’s economic engine that provides revenue resources to support important programs in the city. Mr. Leonsis and Monumental Sports have been critical partners in keeping our downtown thriving‚ especially after the pandemic. The modernization of the Capital One Arena will be an invaluable investment for continued success and our future prosperity‚” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a statement. “This proposal represents our best and final offer and is the next step in partnering with Monumental Sports to breathe new life and vibrancy into the neighborhood and to keep the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals where they belong – in Washington‚ DC‚” she continued. While the proposal to move the Wizards and Capitals to Virginia still needs to be finalized‚ pending legislation and “definitive” documents‚ Monument said another of its teams could potentially make a return to Capital One Arena: the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.

Drew Barrymore went viral on Tuesday after clips surfaced on X of the “cringe” interview she did with Oprah Winfrey. During the “The Drew Barrymore Show‚” the 48-year-old host sat down with Winfrey as the two discussed the necessity of a live studio audience for daytime talk shows. Barrymore then reached out to hold Winfrey’s hand and held it close to her face as they continued talking. At one point‚ while she was holding Winfrey’s hand‚ Barrymore also started stroking Winfrey’s arm. crying at oprah talking with her hands while she and drew are holding hands pic.twitter.com/QWi272iDIc — Jordan (@itsjordanapps) December 12‚ 2023 When the clips surfaced on X and Instagram‚ fans commented that Oprah appeared to be trying to move her hand away and shift her body‚ calling it “difficult to watch” and “cringe.” “You need to dial the touchy-feely neediness back like 10-fold‚” one account posted. “Drew is holding on too much‚” another added. “Oprah is trying to release her hand from Drew’s grip. Drew is just too creepy and needy.” While another said‚ “Oprah is clearly like ‘Girl‚ give me my hand.'” What is Drew Barrymore’s deal?? And why is she sitting here stroking Oprah on her talk show!? 🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/ULqe9djWsn — Lori Love (@thereallorilove) December 12‚ 2023 One account on X asked‚ “What is Drew Barrymore’s deal?? And why is she sitting here stroking Oprah on her talk show!?” CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP TMZ caught up with Winfrey following the Barrymore interview and asked the former TV host about the hand-holding and caressing. Winfrey said she wasn’t uncomfortable with it‚ adding that she was “actually comforted by the stroking of the arm.” She then joked that she told her longtime partner‚ Stedman Graham‚ he needed to start stroking her arm that way. Winfrey said she’d never seen Barrymore do that before but thought it was an “endearing” action. Barrymore has been criticized in the past for her interviewing style. In March‚ the talk show host faced a backlash when she got down on her knees and knelt with trans-identifying male influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

This is a portion of a speech delivered by Michael Knowles at Clemson University on Wednesday‚ December 6‚ 2023.   Kids are not commodities to be bought and sold. People are not property and children have rights. This issue has come up recently because same-sex couples have begun to purchase children through surrogacy and in vitro fertilization. Liberals celebrate this novelty. Most conservatives find it instinctively abhorrent. But even some self-styled conservatives celebrate it too. The reason for this unusual degree of confusion and controversy is that the issue is entirely new. Nothing like this has ever happened before in human history.  And the reason for that is two-fold: first‚ our political order has‚ for the first time in the history of our civilization‚ denied the necessity of sexual difference to marriage — that is‚ our system of law has‚ for the first time ever‚ denied the difference between men and women. The second reason is technological: For the first time in the history of the world‚ we can create and gestate human life outside of the conjugal act. For the first time ever‚ we can make babies without sex. Unfortunately‚ technology and ideology have outpaced bioethical inquiry. To quote Jeff Goldblum’s character in “Jurassic Park‚” “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” The full quote from that scene is even more apt. Goldblum’s character says‚ “The lack of humility before nature that’s being displayed here staggers me.” He describes the scientists’ actions as “a violent‚ penetrative act that scars what it explores.” Entirely true. And in the case of surrogacy and IVF‚ what the discovery — both technologically and politically — explores and scars is people‚ specifically‚ innocent little babies. WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show The case of homosexual men purchasing children through surrogacy is particularly and most obviously egregious because it involves creating babies with the express intent of denying them their mothers. The bond between babies and their mothers is the most intimate bond human beings ever experience. The mother is the very environment in which a baby forms. The mother’s voice is the first voice the baby ever hears. Mother and child share the nutrients that sustain them‚ both before and after birth. Many children grow up without mothers. For all of history‚ motherlessness has been a rare and unfortunate event in a fallen world that leaves a wound to be healed as best it can be. Today‚ motherlessness is an intentional political program undertaken with the blessing of the law‚ which now holds the presumed right of men to children trumps the actual right of children to their mothers. Sadly‚ this phenomenon‚ though recent‚ has now occurred for long enough we can read the accounts of children who lament the trials that accompany this unnecessary hardship. The writer Katy Faust has detailed such anecdotes in The Federalist. The biological hardships: Children conceived through surrogacy and IVF face more health problems and they tend to be born premature and underweight. Worse still‚ there are the psychological and spiritual hardships: Envy of their friends with mothers‚ the hatred of Mother’s Day‚ the pressure not to express their anguish because it might make the men who raised them sad. The social adjustment issues. The difficulties bonding with the non-biological father. The identity issues. The constant wondering about half-siblings‚ the existence of whom they are legally barred from knowing. The increased risk of depression. The increased likelihood of being prescribed antidepressant drugs. The total neglect of their reasonable suffering by a society more concerned with stamping out imaginary phobias than with protecting the natural rights of children. The basic‚ universal longing of children for their mothers because moms and dads are different. It’s ghastly‚ absolutely horrific. It is just about as rotten a thing as a society can possibly do to a child. But unlike many who have opined on this issue‚ I don’t even really blame the homosexuals. It’s easy to look at the situation and accuse these adult men of selfishness. And they are selfish — obviously. They put their own desires — their natural desire to have children along with their disordered desire to exclude women from the process — ahead of the rights and interests of their prospective children. But I suspect most of them don’t know it. In their defense‚ they’ve been told by the culture for some 60 years now that men and women really aren’t different. And if men and women aren’t different‚ then moms and dads aren’t different. And if moms and dads aren’t different‚ then why would anyone need or even want to have both? What’s the difference between a family and a couple of fellas? I don’t mention these harsh truths to make the men who have fallen for this lie and temptation feel bad. I don’t suggest we take away their children‚ though we might endeavor as best we can to introduce these children to their mothers. But this is a fallen world. There is no way to undo the terrible crime that has been perpetrated on many people — the children‚ most of all‚ but even the men who were told they were doing nothing wrong. The men who sincerely believed that and who might now be listening to this speech thinking in horror‚ wondering‚ “What have I done?” It’s a terrible feeling. We’ve all made mistakes — some‚ of course‚ more egregious than others. But there’s no sense in trying to undo the past. There’s no sense in dwelling on past sins after we’ve seen the error of our ways. The reason I mention all of this is to stop this crime from spreading. To prevent it from happening again in the future. I don’t primarily blame the homosexual men for the growing evil of surrogacy and IVF. I don’t blame the women either. We all know the statistics about children who grow up in fatherless households: the significantly higher risk of behavioral problems‚ of going to prison‚ of abuse and neglect‚ of drug and alcohol abuse‚ and so on. Kids need their fathers. It isn’t complicated‚ and‚ at some level at least‚ we all know it. I don’t primarily blame the homosexuals of either sex for this awful situation. They are simply following a 60-year series of delusions our culture and politics have promoted to their logical conclusion. The primary culprit will likely surprise my critics: The culprit is capitalism. More precisely‚ capitalism unconstrained by morality. More precisely still‚ the commodification of people. And the Left loves the commodification of people. The socialists don’t actually hate capitalism. It was Karl Marx himself who popularized the word “capitalism.” Ironically‚ the socialists who pretend to hate capitalism actually love it‚ inasmuch as capitalism makes everything‚ including people‚ about money. And just as ironically‚ the conservatives who purport to love capitalism actually hate it‚ inasmuch as we know that life is about much more than money. The Left might worship mammon‚ but we don’t. What we actually love is morality‚ which entails the protection of things like property rights‚ but which crucially recognizes that people aren’t property. CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP We outlaw slavery because we recognize that people are more than property to be traded. We outlaw the sale of organs for the same reason. A true free market absolutist — the most extreme capitalist — might endorse the organ trade. Reasonable people‚ however‚ recognize that it is wrong to harvest the organs of the poor. This is the same reason we outlaw prostitution. The true free-market absolutist has no problem with prostitution. Most people‚ however‚ recognize that it’s wrong to entice poor women in terrible circumstances to sell their bodies as meat. We recognize that people are more than property. Free markets can be a wonderful thing. In the words of Pope John Paul II‚ “The free market is the most efficient instrument for utilizing resources and effectively responding to needs.” But efficiency is not morality‚ and human beings are not mere “resources” to be “utilized”: human beings are the subjects for whom resources are utilized. Capitalism circumscribed by morality is as fine a method for producing material prosperity as has ever been discovered; capitalism unconstrained by morality is a monstrosity — as efficient an instrument as ever‚ but efficient in the degradation of people by denying their very humanity and the rights that go along with it. This‚ ultimately‚ is the problem with IVF and surrogacy. The chief problem with IVF and surrogacy is not that the icky gays use it‚ as some selectively outraged critics would seem to suggest. The chief problem with IVF and surrogacy is that it commoditizes human life.