Only Christ can banish the terror of death



The resurrection lies at the very heart of the Christian faith.

When Paul describes what the gospel consists of, he lists two foundational elements — “Christ died for our sins” and “he was raised on the third day.” Both events happened “in accordance with the Scriptures,” and the risen Jesus was seen by numerous individuals (1 Corinthians 15:3⁠–8).

'After all the reasoning and all the rationales, I’d still desperately prefer to be a conscious, healthy human being than a corpse. Who wouldn’t?'

Unlike most other religions, whose teachings consist of moral or metaphysical principles, Christianity depends crucially on the historical death and resurrection of its founder.

As New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg observes in his commentary on 1 Corinthians:

Older Eastern religions do not even require the actual historical existence of their founders for their beliefs and practices to make sense. In some ways they are more akin to philosophies than to historical truth-claims (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism). But Christianity lives or dies with the claim of Christ’s resurrection.

'If Christ has not been raised'

Indeed, Paul states this to be the case: “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ... Your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17).

But Christ has been raised, and his resurrection vindicates his divine identity and all that he taught. Having proclaimed that “This Jesus God raised up,” Peter summarizes what this reveals: “God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:32, 36). Similarly, in Acts 17, Paul tells the philosophers in Athens that the evidence that Jesus will one day judge the world is that God “has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (17:31).

Given the centrality of this event to Christianity, is there good reason to believe it truly happened? It’s beyond the scope of this article to provide an in-depth defense of the resurrection, but a few points will suffice to show that it stands on solid historical ground.

Original creed

Returning to 1 Corinthians 15, scholars have recognized that Paul is quoting a pre-existing creed addressing the resurrection in verses 3⁠-7. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in approximately A.D. 54, a mere 20 years (roughly) after Jesus’s death. The creed he quotes, however, is much earlier than this, showing that belief in the resurrection was present from the beginning of the Christian movement and not a later legend that developed over decades, as some skeptics assert.

The eminent New Testament scholar James D.G. Dunn concurs, stating we can be "entirely confident" that this tradition was formulated within months of Jesus’ death. Other scholars date the creed somewhat later, to within a few years of Jesus’ death, but in any case, it is an extremely early witness to belief in the resurrection, and Paul likely received it directly from Peter and James, the brother of Jesus, both of whom were eyewitnesses (Galatians 1:18-24).

Thus, the belief that Jesus rose from the dead was present almost immediately after the crucifixion and was based on the firsthand testimony of those who say they witnessed it.

Our deepest longings

As human beings, we yearn to find meaning for our lives and see death as something to be avoided. The renowned psychiatrist Viktor Frankl observed that the “striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” Likewise, philosopher Clifford Williams points out that we “intensely want our lives to be meaningful, to count for something, to matter not only in individual and social ways but in a ‘cosmic’ way.”

If we accept the West’s dominant philosophy of naturalism, however, objective meaning is lost and mortality is assured. Naturalist philosopher Alex Rosenberg expresses it this way:

What is the purpose of the universe? There is none.

What is the meaning of life? Ditto.

Why am I here? Just dumb luck.

... Is there a soul? Is it immortal? Are you kidding?

... What happens when we die? Everything pretty much goes on as before, except us.

Rosenberg attempts to obscure the implications of naturalism with humor and nonchalance, but it’s undeniable that losing meaning and facing our own extinction is devastating. As physician Alex Lickerman confesses in Psychology Today, “I’ve tried to resolve my fear of death intellectually and come to the conclusion that it can’t be done, at least not by me.”

In that same article Lickerman notes that he’s “always surprised by people who say they're not afraid to die. ... I’ve always wondered if that answer hides a denial so deeply seated it cannot be faced by most. Certainly, this has been the case with me. I love being here and don’t want to leave.”

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No consolation

Most prominent nonbelievers seem to agree.

Even in "The Consolations of Mortality" — a book meant to help readers accept death — writer Andrew Stark admits, “After all the reasoning and all the rationales, I’d still desperately prefer to be a conscious, healthy human being than a corpse. Who wouldn’t?”

Similarly, notable atheist Sam Harris concedes that his philosophy does little to banish dread of mortality: “I think we can admit that atheism doesn’t offer real consolation on this point. ... The thing that gets lost, the thing for which there is no real substitute, is total consolation in the face of death.”

Death defeated

But what if death has been overcome and God has a purpose for our lives?

The apostle Peter declares that God has given believers “a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ... so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:3, 21). The resurrection doesn’t merely demonstrate that human beings survive death, but that Jesus conquered death for all of us. “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). Even now, while on earth, we can experience “the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).

Contrary to naturalism, for those who place their faith in Christ, life will continue in the presence of loved ones and in fellowship with our Creator. We will fulfill the purpose for which we were created: to know God, to love him, and to enjoy him forever. The paradise we lost in Eden will be regained in a new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21). We’ll spend eternity learning more about God’s infinite nature and enjoying fellowship with his people from every age. We’ll also continue to create things of “glory and honor” that will contribute to the splendor of God’s kingdom (Revelation 21:26). The popular idea that people in heaven will spend their days floating on clouds while playing harps has no basis in Scripture.

Let’s be thankful to God that because of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and resurrection, we have a glorious destiny if we receive this gift. May we also share this good news with those who lack hope and see no real purpose for their lives.

The new kid in the waiting room



The receptionist asked me to verify my date of birth.

I gave her Gracie’s.

For years, I have encouraged fellow caregivers to pay attention to their own health rather than waiting until a crisis forces the issue. This experience has only reinforced that conviction.

She glanced down at the chart in her hand and then back at me with a puzzled expression. Before she could say anything, I caught myself.

“Oh ... that’s my wife’s birthday.”

After 40 years as a family caregiver through surgeries, appointments, hospital admissions, medications, insurance forms, and enough medical paperwork to clear a small forest, I had automatically answered with the date I have given thousands of times before.

This time, however, I was the patient.I was at the cancer center for imaging and treatment planning in preparation for radiation therapy for prostate cancer. Thanks to routine screenings and excellent physicians, it was caught early. The prognosis is excellent.

Still, it felt strange.

I have spent most of my adult life in hospitals because of someone else. This time, they called my name.

Looking around the waiting room, I realized I was easily the youngest man there. That does not happen to me very often anymore. Later, one staff member told me most of their patients are in their 70s and beyond. Sometimes, they see men in their 60s like me, and every so often someone in his 50s.

For this visit, I was the new kid.

I took a chair off to the side, careful not to intrude on this fraternity of men who seemed to know the ropes. They reminded me of the old men who gathered at Nick’s grocery and gas station near my childhood home in rural South Carolina. As a boy, I would stop in for a soda and candy bar while they held court around the coffee pot, solving problems that ranged from weather and crops to politics and church business.

The subjects changed from day to day. The cadence never did.

Men of a certain age possess a remarkable conversational gift. They can begin with trout streams and end with urologists without anyone noticing where the turn occurred.

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True to form, this conversation drifted toward prostate cancer, treatments, and the assorted indignities that accompany aging. One fellow described an examination during which the sheet covering him slipped.

Before he could react, the nurse matter-of-factly told him, “Don’t worry. If I see something I’ve never seen before, I’ll kill it.”

Such is the sort of thing you expect to hear in a cancer clinic in Montana.

The men laughed.

I raised an eyebrow and thought, “How comforting.”

But I still laughed.

Soon enough, they called me back. The technicians positioned my legs, explained the process, and slid me into a machine that looked remarkably like something from an old “Star Trek” episode. If memory serves, it resembled the device that kept Spock alive after somebody stole his brain.

After the instructions were complete, they eased me into position and left the room.

A few minutes later, one of the technicians returned looking slightly sheepish.

“We have a bit of a challenge.”

“Do tell,” I replied.

“There’s a gas bubble.”

The expression on my face evidently communicated that I was not following.

She delicately clarified.

“It’s in ... you.”

“Oh.”

I considered several responses, including one with my outstretched index finger that would have made my four brothers proud and the medical staff considerably less appreciative. Fortunately, decades of maturity prevailed.

“What do you recommend?” I asked.

“Maybe take a walk and see if anything happens.”

So there I was, strolling through the halls of a cancer center, trying to solve a problem that five boys growing up under one roof would have regarded as entirely manageable without professional consultation. At times, our household rivaled the campfire scene in “Blazing Saddles.”

The problem was that they had instructed me to drink a substantial amount of water beforehand to achieve the proper imaging. Solving one problem too enthusiastically threatened to create another.

Men over 50 approach certain situations with caution for good reasons.

Eventually, however, everything worked itself out.

Ahem.

The imaging was completed, the planning was finished, and in a few days, I will return to begin treatment.

As I left, I noticed the bell hanging in the hallway. I have seen bells like that before. Patients ring them when treatment ends.

Lord willing, I will ring that bell myself within a month.

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Driving home, I thought about those older men in the waiting room. None of them appeared eager to be there, but neither did they seem intimidated by it.

They knew where to park. They knew where the coffee was. They knew which jokes were worth telling.

In short, they knew the territory.

Eventually, if you stay on any road long enough, you stop asking for directions and start giving them.

One day, perhaps sooner than I would like to admit, I may be the guy telling stories to the new kid who walks through the door — even if the story involves a gas bubble that needed to be walked off.

For years, I have encouraged fellow caregivers to pay attention to their own health rather than waiting until a crisis forces the issue. This experience has only reinforced that conviction.

Prostate cancer is often called a silent disease.

Mine was.

Fortunately, silent does not have to mean deadly.

Fishing with my dying father



On the North Norfolk coast, dawn is more sensory than visual.

Sea lavender and samphire engulf you before the bite of the wind reminds you of nature’s power. As the sun rises above the horizon, my father and I cross the salt marshes, the light revealing tidal creeks winding through the mudflats. This time, though, I know it is our last trip together.

In angling, the tippet is the thinnest section of line, the point most likely to fail.

Every step is taken with the knowledge that these rituals — these early mornings, the scent of salt and wildflowers, the quiet companionship — are being performed for the final time.

Silence as stewardship

This is not just a landscape but a stage on which the story of my family unfolds. Each tradition echoes those who came before and those still to come. This place, and these shared customs repeated year after year, have woven our family history together — each visit another stitch in a tapestry stretched across generations.

There is no better place for solitude than Stiffkey, an idyllic village nestled in the Norfolk countryside. For miles around, the only sounds are wood pigeons cooing in the trees and the distant thunder of the sea. It is still very early — five in the morning — when we break this peace with the rhythmic punch of a shovel digging into saturated sand. My father and I do not speak as we work. Ours is a silence filled with meaning, a language shaped by years of tradition and respect for the world around us.

The rhythm of these mornings — the shared labor, the quiet companionship — blurs the boundaries between past and present, between father and son, creating a continuous thread running through my memory. Growing up, my father and I mainly communicated through the tension of a fishing line. Our family has never been big on talking; we are like frayed strings, bound and spliced together by tradition.

In the modern world, silence between two men is often treated as a void to be filled with noise. But on this stretch of coastline, silence is a form of stewardship. To be quiet is to respect the natural world. To be quiet together is to acknowledge a bond that does not require speech.

Here time folds in on itself — my father’s footsteps merging with his father’s, and mine with both of theirs.

Stiffkey blues

My father brought us to Stiffkey every year for our family holiday. For decades, this was his parish. He moved through the shifting terrain with the confidence of a man who knew the tide’s schedule like the back of his hand.

This time, watching him navigate the narrow ravines in the soft morning light, I see not the man who first guided me to the water 20 years earlier but his shadow. His light has dimmed — but it is still bright enough to guide us.

The lessons of Stiffkey are as much about patience, respect, and inheritance as they are about fishing. Each action — from digging bait to laying lines — forms a thread in the fabric of our shared history.

Laying fishing lines is a skill. The tide’s timing and direction determine how the lines must be slanted to catch fish. Digging your own bait matters too; no competent angler wants to carry unnecessary weight from home.

You take only what you need, while respecting the land and sea. From an early age, this was the lesson my father taught me: We are merely guardians, entrusted with care until it is time to pass things on.

“The ragworms aren’t biting,” I would tell him. He would approach with his antalgic gait, quietly move my shovel a few feet, and say, softly but with conviction, “Dig between the holes — that’s where they live.” Ten minutes later, the plastic bucket would overflow.

These moments bridge generations, passing down not just skill but belonging. This was where my grandfather taught my father to fish. Decades later, my father stood here teaching me.

A disused sewage pipe stretches northward, its end disappearing beneath the waves of the North Sea, marked only by a lone orange buoy. With an upturned wooden rake slung over my shoulder, its worn teeth piercing an old onion sack, I would walk the length of the pipeline. I can still feel the chill of rusted metal beneath my bare feet and my father’s watchful eyes — stern yet generous — urging me on. Together we raked the mudflats for cockles, the famed “Stiffkey blues,” once plentiful, now sought like hidden treasure.

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The cycle of care

Every sensory detail — the cold pipeline, the mudflats, the weight of the rake — anchors memory to place, making past and present inseparable.

Trust and love, learned in my father’s shadow, now guide me as I support him. The cycle of care turns gently but inexorably.

My father's name is Peter. As his name suggests, he was always my rock — my moral guide — and I followed him with a child’s absolute confidence. Now the roles have quietly reversed. I lead; he leans on my shoulder.

The symbolism of the tippet — its fragility and strength — mirrors this transfer of responsibility. In angling, the tippet is the thinnest section of line, the point most likely to fail. As I watch my father struggle with the nylon — his hands, calloused by 50 years of labor, unable to tie the hook — it becomes clear that we are in the tippet phase of our relationship.

I take over, tying a grinner knot. He has taught me this a thousand times, but today feels different. As I pull the knot tight, I feel the weight of his legacy. He is handing over the keys to his kingdom.

The weight of a soul

At daybreak the following morning, we set off with the same excitement I once felt as a 5-year-old. His unspoken lesson had always been that disappointment should be met with patience. Then there it is: a solitary bass, glistening in the early sun. His hands tremble as he holds it up, smiling. On the walk back to the car, we laugh as seagulls swoop in, trying to steal our catch.

As our roles shifted, so did my understanding. Fishing became a meditation on acceptance, mortality, and shared silence. Fishing with a dying father reminds you that life is finite. It shows that the boundary between this world and the next is as thin as a fishing line — fragile, transparent, yet strong enough to bear the weight of a soul.

Even after loss, the rituals persist. Each return to Stiffkey is both goodbye and renewal. The year after his death, I returned to scatter his ashes. As the wind carried him out to sea, I understood that life’s true tippet strength is not measured by where it breaks but by what it can hold before it does.

'Argument accepted': Dying 'Dilbert' creator and Trump ally Scott Adams says he's becoming a Christian



Scott Adams, the creator of the "Dilbert" comic strip and a frequent defender of President Donald Trump, revealed in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, it had metastasized to his bones, and he was not long for this world.

"The disease is already intolerable," said Adams. "So if you're wondering, 'Hey Scott, do you have any good days?' Nope. Nope. Every day is a nightmare, and evening is very worse."

'What happens next is between me and Jesus.'

While Adams had run out of good days, good news was on the horizon.

The 68-year-old cartoonist revealed on the Sunday episode of his show, "Real Coffee with Scott Adams," that he is converting to Christianity.

In November, Adams requested Trump's help in securing the prostate cancer drug Pluvicto for which his health care provider had apparently approved his application but "dropped the ball in scheduling the brief IV to administer it."

Trump and members of his administration indicated they were "on it" and apparently intervened on the cartoonist's behalf. However, Adams' potentially life-changing treatment was postponed last month on account of his radiation treatment.

Last week, Adams noted on his show that "the odds of me recovering are essentially zero."

In addition to suffering paralysis below the waist, Adams indicated that he is struggling to breathe on account of ongoing heart failure.

Days after telling his audience that January will probably be "a month of transition one way or the other," Adams made clear on Sunday that the imminent changes in his life were not all of a medical nature.

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Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images

"Many of my Christian friends and Christian followers say to me, 'Scott, you still have time. You should convert to Christianity.' And I usually just let that sit because that's not an argument I want to have," said Adams. "I've not been a believer. But I also have respect for any Christian who goes out of their way to try to convert me because how would I believe you and believe your own religion if you're not trying to convert me?"

'You're never too late.'

Evidently the efforts of Adams' friends were not in vain.

"You're going to hear for the first time today that it is my plan to convert," said Adams. "So I still have time. But my understanding is you're never too late. And on top of that, any skepticism I have about reality would certainly be instantly answered if I wake up in heaven."

Adams — who has long wrestled with questions about God and has been critical both of religion and atheism in his writing — notified his Christian friends that he does not require any more apologetics and has embraced what appears to be Catholic philosopher Blaise Pascal's argument for believing in God.

"I am now convinced that the risk-reward is completely smart. If it turns out that there's nothing there, I've lost nothing but I've respected your wishes, and I like doing that," said Adams. "If it turns out there is something there and the Christian model is the closest to it, I win."

"Argument made, argument accepted," added Adams.

In the wake of his announcement, Adams wrote on X that while he appreciates the outpouring of support and questions, "What happens next is between me and Jesus."

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Scientists acknowledge COVID vaccines and containment protocols may have boosted excess mortality



Dutch researchers indicated in a new peer-reviewed study that COVID-19 vaccines and governmental containment policies may have boosted excess mortality in the West.

The study, published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal BMJ Public Health, explored excess all-cause deaths in 47 Western countries from 2020 to 2022. It indicated that during this period, there were 3,098,456 excess deaths: 87% of the countries under review suffered excess mortality in 2020; 89% in 2021; and 91% in 2022.

The researchers made clear that excess mortality "includes not only deaths from SARS-CoV-2 infection but also deaths related to the indirect effects of the health strategies to address the virus spread and infection."

What caught the researchers' attention was not only the persistence of high excess mortality following the pandemic but that "the highest number of excess deaths [1,256,942] was recorded" in 2021 — the year containment measures were coupled with experimental vaccination.

In 2020, when Western citizens largely only had to contend with the virus, government-limited mobility rights and shuttered schools, churches, workplaces, restaurants, and parks, there were 1,033,122 excess deaths.

In 2022, when most containment protocols had been lifted and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines was in fast decline, researchers indicated there were 808,392 excess deaths.

'This is unprecedented and raises serious concerns.'

These massive figures reflect the difference in the number of reported deaths in a country in a given year and the expected number of deaths under normal conditions. For a baseline, the Dutch researchers used Ariel Karlinsky and Dmitry Kobak's linear regression estimate model, which draws on "historical death data in a country from 2015 until 2019 and accounts for seasonal variation in mortality and year-to-year trends due to changing population structure or socioeconomic factors."

"Excess mortality has remained high in the Western World for three consecutive years, despite the implementation of COVID-19 containment measures and COVID-19 vaccines," wrote the researchers. "This is unprecedented and raises serious concerns."

"During the pandemic, it was emphasized by politicians and the media on a daily basis that every COVID-19 death mattered and every life deserved protection through containment measures and COVID-19 vaccines," continued the researchers. "In the aftermath of the pandemic, the same morale should apply."

The Dutch researchers noted at the outset of their study that while experimental COVID-19 vaccines and draconian containment measures may have been effective in protecting segments of the population — particularly those with comorbidities and the elderly — they nevertheless had "detrimental effects that cause inferior outcomes as well."

"Although COVID-19 vaccines were provided to guard civilians from suffering morbidity and mortality by the COVID-19 virus, suspected adverse events have been documented as well," wrote the researchers.

The secondary analysis of the placebo-controlled, phase III randomized clinical trials of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines showed that the Pfizer trial had a 36% higher risk of serious adverse events in the vaccine group. The risk difference was 18.0 per 10000 vaccinated (95% CI 1.2 to 34.9), and the risk ratio was 1.36 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.83). The Moderna trial had a 6% higher risk of serious adverse events among vaccine recipients. The risk difference was 7.1 per 10,000 vaccinated (95% CI −23.2 to 37.4), and the risk ratio was 1.06 (95% CI 0.84 to 1.33).39. By definition, these serious adverse events lead to either death, are life-threatening, require inpatient (prolongation of) hospitalization, cause persistent/significant disability/incapacity, concern a congenital anomaly/birth defect or include a medically important event according to medical judgement.

Previous comparisons of established flu vaccines to the novel mRNA vaccines — which the Dutch researchers indicated have been classed in multiple French studies as "gene therapy products requiring long-term stringent adverse events monitoring" — have revealed the latter to carry a far higher risk of serious adverse reactions.

'Both medical professionals and citizens have reported serious injuries and deaths following vaccination.'

COVID-19 vaccines have also been linked to various ailments, including heart disease, blood clots, hemorrhages, gut issues, thromboses, myocarditis, pericarditis, and autoimmune diseases. A number of these linkages have been well-demonstrated and even admitted by pharmaceutical giants, as in the case of AstraZeneca.

The Dutch researchers indicated that some of the risks these experimental vaccines carry were realized overtime outside of clinical trials: "Both medical professionals and citizens have reported serious injuries and deaths following vaccination to various official databases in the Western World, such as VAERS in the USA, EudraVigilance in the European Union and Yellow Card Scheme in the UK."

The researchers framed the dangers posed by the vaccines as even more troubling given the understanding that the threat posed by the virus was overblown.

The pre-vaccination infection fatality rate for persons over 60 was reportedly 0.03% and the rate was 0.07% for those over 70. It posed virtually no threat to people ages 19 and younger, who alternatively faced an infection fatality rate of 0.0003%.

Gordon Wishart, chief medical officer at Check4Cancer, told the Telegraph, "The authors are correct to point out that many vaccine-related serious adverse events may have been unreported, and point to the fact that the simultaneous onset of excess mortality and Covid vaccination in Germany is worthy of further investigation on its own."

Just as the vaccines were nowhere near as "safe and effective" as promised, the supposed health safety protocols appear to have had an inverse effect.

The study acknowledged that it is challenging to differentiate between the various causes of excess mortality, particularly because national mortality registries "not only vary in quality and thoroughness but may also not accurately document the cause of death," and there was a lack of consensus in the medical community on whether to label deaths of persons infected with COVID-19 but not caused by the disease as COVID-19 fatalities.

However, they appeared confident enough to assert that "indirect effects of containment measures have likely altered the scale and nature of disease burden for numerous causes of death since the pandemic," citing a study that indicated there was a "substantial increase" in American deaths attributed to non-COVID causes in the first two years of the pandemic.

American heart disease deaths were apparently 6% above baseline in 2020 and 2021. Diabetes deaths were 17% over baseline in 2020 and 13% over in 2021. Alzheimers disease mortality was up 19% in 2020 and 15% in 2021. Alcohol-related deaths were 28% over baseline in 2020 and up 33% in 2021. Drug-related deaths were 33% over baseline in 2020 and up 54% in 2022.

The study noted that "lockdowns, school closures, physical distancing, travel restructions, business closures, stay-at-home orders, curfews, and quarantine measures with contract tracing" had numerous adverse indirect effects such as "economic damage, limited access to education, food insecurity, child abuse, limited access to healthcare, disrupted health programmes and mental health challenges" that increased morbidity and mortality from other causes.

The researchers concluded by recommending policymakers and government officials to "thoroughly investigate underlying causes of persistent excess mortality and evaluate their health crisis policies."

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Rate of American babies dying before their first birthdays increases for the first time in 20 years



The Biden administration announced another bleak signal for life in the United States this week. The rate accounting for the number of babies to die before their first birthdays jumped 3% in 2022 — the first year-to-year increase since 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC indicated that the infant mortality rate was 5.44 in 2021. Last year, the rate was 5.6. The total number of reported infant deaths in 2022 was 20,538, up 610 from the previous year.

Referencing infant birth and death certificates collected from all states and the District of Columbia by the National Center for Health Statistics, the CDC concluded there were increases from 2021 to 2022 more or less across the board. Some of the most significant increases were seen among baby boys, whose mortality rate leaped from 5.83 deaths per 1,000 to 6.06; among premature babies, those who had been in the womb for fewer than 37 weeks and 34 weeks; and among infants of women ages 25-29.

For babies under a month old, the mortality rate increased 3%, from 3.49 to 3.58. For post-neonatal babies, there was a 4% increase, from 1.95 to 2.02.

There were also increases in mortality rates for babies of all races, except for Asians, who saw a decrease from 3.69 to 3.5.

Over 30 states saw rises in the number of babies who didn't make it to their first birthdays.

The top five causes of death provided, in order, were congenital malformations; short gestation and low birth weight; sudden infant death syndrome; accidents; and maternal complications of pregnancy. Among the causes, there were glaring year-over-year increases in the number of deaths by "maternal complications" and bacterial sepsis, 9% and 14%, respectively.

Dr. Eric Eichenwald, a Philadelphia-based neonatologist, told the Associated Press the data was "disturbing," suggesting that experts can presently only speculate as to the cause behind the sharp increase in infant mortality.

Sandy Chung, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told CNN, "The infant mortality rate in this country in unacceptable."

Chung intimated that race and poverty might be factors.

"We know that for people who live in or near poverty and for certain racial and ethnic groups there are significant challenges with getting access to a doctor or getting treatments," said Chung, "This can lead to moms and babies showing up for care when they are sicker and more likely have serious outcomes, even death."

Rachel Hardeman, a leftist professor of health who refers to pregnant mothers as "birthing people," was more explicit in her speculation, suggesting racism and marginalization were might be to blame even though most racial groups saw spikes in infant mortality.

Tracey Wilkinson, an associate professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, suggested to ABC News that what may have instead driven the increases in infant deaths were post-Roe limits on abortion.

"Any pregnancy that is intended and planned tends to be a healthier outcome and healthy infant outcome," said Wilkinson. "So when you remove the ability for people to decide if and when to have families and continue pregnancies, ultimately, you are having more pregnancies continue that don't have all those factors in place."

Pat Gabbe, a clinical professor of pediatrics at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told NBC News one factor may have been that mothers did not receive proper medical care on account of pandemic protocols.

"Every time we've measured infant mortality, it has trended down, and what’s changed? COVID. It's disrupted all the community support we developed that helped women access prenatal care," said Gabbe.

The infant mortality rate is not the only concerning metric to be released in recent months.

In March, the Journal of the American Medical Association published research that revealed the mortality rate for minors ages 1 through 19 jumped by nearly 20% between 2019 and 2021 — a spike that could not reportedly be attributed to the COVID-19 virus.

Between 2019 and 2021, the mortality rate for youths ages 1 through 19 increased by 10.7%. For the same demographic, the mortality rate jumped an additional 8.3% between 2020 and 2021.

The researchers noted that "this reversal in the pediatric mortality trajectory was caused not by COVID-19, but by injuries."

While the CDC has yet to release its estimates for 2022, it indicated last summer that the life expectancy for the U.S. population dropped in 2021 to its lowest in over two decades.

Blaze News reported that the data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics indicated that men can expect to live 73.2 years, down from 74.2 years in 2020. Women can expect to live 79.1 years, down from 79.9 two years ago. This 5.9-year delta between life expectancy for men and women is the highest it has been in over 25 years.

COVID-19 deaths accounted for half of the negative contributions of cause-specific death rates to the decline that occurred from 2020 to 2021.

Among the other negative contributions to the decline were unintentional injuries (14.9%); heart disease (4.1%); chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (3%); and suicide (2.1%).

Not only have mortality rates spiked and life expectancy dropped, but Americans now stand a better chance than ever before of dying alone. Whereas in 1960 just 13% of American households had a single occupant, that number has nearly trebled such that 26 million Americans 50 or older may face aging and death alone.

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Transvestites taking confusion-affirming hormones face up to 93% greater likelihood of heart disease



The cross-sex hormone therapies Democrats and other leftists want to make sure youths can access aren't just deformative and destabilizing, but deadly.

A new study published in the European Journal of Endocrinology revealed that male transvestites taking feminizing hormones are 93% more likely to suffer heart disease than other men. Female transvestites taking testosterone are 63% more likely.to suffer heart disease than other women.

Lead author Dr. Dorte Glintborg of Denmark's Odense University Hospital noted in a 2021 study that "epidemiological studies in transgender women reported increased risk of acute myocardial infarction and stroke during feminizing treatment, whereas long-term, controlled studies regarding feminizing treatment and risk of arterial CVD are lacking."

In an apparent follow-up last month, Glintborg determined that male transvestites taking cross-sex hormones were nearly twice as likely to suffer from any cardiovascular disease as men not taking hormones, reported the Telegraph.

While men are especially at risk, all individuals undergoing cross-sex conversion therapy face "significantly increased risk" of heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels.

Glintborg and her team reportedly tracked the health of 2,671 transvestites from Denmark — 1,270 of whom were women and 1,402 of whom were men — over a five-year period. The average age for the men was 26 and the average age for the women in the study was 22. Over 1,000 appear to have undergone a legal sex change.

Relative to the incidence of heart disease in a control group of 26,700 people, male transvestites taking estrogen were 93% more likely to suffer the ailment than men not on feminizing hormones and 73% more likely to suffer the ailment than women.

On the flip side, women taking testosterone were found to be 63% more likely than women not taking the hormone and twice as likely as men to develop some form of heart disease.

"Cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes were more prevalent in transgender persons compared to controls. Gender-affirming hormone therapy exposure could contribute to the elevated cardiovascular risk in transgender men, assigned female at birth," the researchers concluded. "Future studies will be able to bring further knowledge regarding mechanisms for higher cardiovascular risk in transgender men and women."

Glintborg, who runs her hospital's endocrinology department, presented her findings this week at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

She noted a possible silver lining for female transvestites, stating, "While increased rates of cardiovascular disease might normally go hand-in-hand with increased rates of diabetes, for trans men (assigned female at birth AFAB), use of testosterone usually increases lean body mass and this could be protecting against an increased risk of diabetes," reported Medical Xpress.

Conversely, for male transvestites, "hormone treatments such as estrogen will increase fat mass and lower lean body mass, and increased estrogen is usually associated with increased risk of autoimmune disease and inflammation," said Glintborg, adding, "Some studies found a higher risk of type 2 diabetes in transgender women, but this could not be confirmed by others."

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CDC Data Suggest Lockdowns Could Kill As Many People As COVID

COVID has clearly been devastating. But our reaction has turned a bad pandemic into an unrivaled self-inflicted national disaster.