The Vatican said blessings for unions of same-sex people are “illicit” because God “cannot bless sin,” while blessings for individual persons with homosexual inclinations are permissible. https://www.theepochtimes.com/vatican-declares-blessings-for-same-sex-unions-illicit_3734246.html

Xi gave a televised speech declaring that China had “secured a complete victory” by lifting 98.99 million rural residents out of poverty. https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-victory-against-poverty-draws-skepticism_3733652.html

In the United States, the ratio of divorces to marriages more than doubled from the 1960s to the 1980s. In the 1950s, about 11 percent of the children born in a married family saw their parents divorce, and in 1970, the ratio soared to 50 percent. [1] According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40 percent of newborn infants in the United States in 2016 were born out of wedlock. In 1956, this figure was less than 5 percent. Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/the.specter.of.communism Read Chapter Seven (Part I): Destruction of the Family https://ept.ms/2XOBGTT Traditional families play the role of transmitting beliefs and morality and maintaining the stability of society. The family is the cradle of belief and the bond for the transmission of values. Parents are the first teachers in children’s lives. If children can learn traditional virtues such as selflessness, humility, gratitude, endurance, and more from their parents’ words and deeds, they will benefit for the rest of their lives. Traditional married life also helps men and women grow together in morality. It requires husbands and wives to treat their emotions and desires with a new attitude and to be considerate and tolerant of each other. This is fundamentally different from the idea of cohabitation. Human emotions are fickle. If the couple is together because they like to be together and break up because they don’t like it anymore, the relationship is not much different from a common friendship unbounded by marriage. Marx ultimately hoped for widespread “unconstrained sexual intercourse,” which of course is about dissolving the traditional marriage and thus, in the end, eliminating the institution of the family.

“The decision has been made … to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a precaution, hoping that we can resume its use quickly if the judgement of the EMA (European Medicines Agency) allows it,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. https://www.theepochtimes.com/astrazeneca-vaccine-suspended-by-germany-france-italy-spain-over-precautions_3734234.html

Irish health officials on Sunday recommended the suspension of the AstraZeneca #vaccine after reports of serious #bloodclotting. https://www.theepochtimes.com/ireland-suspends-astrazeneca-vaccine-amid-blood-clot-reports_3732682.html

“This kind of behavior, while perhaps typical in a military-controlled Third World country, is completely unacceptable in the United States of America,” Sen. Ted Cruz wrote in his letter. https://www.theepochtimes.com/marines-corp-account-deletes-critical-tweets-to-tucker-carlson-another-civilian-as-sen-cruz-sends-letter_3733907.html

Treasury Secretary #JanetYellen said the Biden administration is looking at raising #taxes on wealthy #Americans and #corporations. https://www.theepochtimes.com/yellen-says-wealth-tax-not-off-the-table-as-biden-mulls-how-to-pay-for-programs_3733766.html

#Pelosi excused #Democrats who launched an #investigation into possibly unseating an elected #GOP House representative. “It was six votes,” she said. https://www.theepochtimes.com/its-only-six-votes-pelosi-excuses-democrats-from-launching-probe-to-possibly-unseat-gop-member_3733844.html

Authorities confirmed that 2 suspects were arrested and charged for assaulting #CapitolPolice officer #BrianSicknick after the Jan. 6 #CapitolBreach. https://www.theepochtimes.com/two-men-arrested-for-assaulting-capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-who-died-after-jan-6-riot_3733967.html

OPINION: It’s time to get tougher with the Iranian dictatorship—not weaker. Historically, relations between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran have never been positive. When Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrew Shah Pahlavi in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, he had totally fooled President Jimmy Carter and his administration into thinking the new regime in Iran would be a friend to America and promote peace in the region. https://www.theepochtimes.com/stop-appeasement-we-cannot-afford-to-be-weak-with-iran_3733248.html