News and Prophecy Staff

“Tattoos are more popular than ever. Roughly half of millennials have one, as do 36% of Gen Xers… The number of Americans with at least one tattoo has jumped 50% in the past four years” (Time, April 5, 2017). The growing prevalence of tattoos has spawned new research into potential dangers of the practice. Research shows tattoos may interfere with both body cooling (through sweating) and also mineral reabsorption.

This week, “A German newspaper reported that after a dinner on Wednesday evening Mr Juncker accused Mrs May of being ‘deluded’ and said it was ‘more likely than not’ that Brexit talks would fail. According to the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung... Mr Juncker told Mrs May ‘I’m leaving Downing Street 10 times more sceptical than I was before’” (The Telegraph, May 1, 2017).

“Global defense spending has gone up for the first time since 2011. According to the World Military Expenditure Report… countries around the world spent a total of $1.68 trillion (1.56 trillion euros) on arms in 2016” (Deutsche Welle, April 24, 2017). The U.S., China and Russia led the spending. One expert observed, “Today, unlike a decade ago, actors are not relying on diplomacy and international institutions.

In a recent article entitled “Children think it’s normal to be ‘gender-fluid,’” author Alice Thomson observed, “Twenty years ago the average age at which people came out was 25; now it is 16” (The Times, April 12, 2017). She further observed, “Acceptance of gay relationships now spans the generations but the young have distinct views on shifting sexual identity.” Ms.

In a recent BBC story, one author worked hard to make the case that heterosexuality is a recently invented “cultural production.” “But heterosexuality has not always ‘just been there.’ And there’s no reason to imagine it will always be” (BBC, April 16, 2017).