Monday roundup

Sorry for the absence. I was an assistant table leader at a jail-ministry weekend called Residents Encounter Christ. To say it was powerful would be to woefully understate the impact. I gained brothers. I saw hearts turn. I saw families begin the process of repair. I may compose a post about it at some point.

It was healthy to leave my devices at home. There is indeed more to life than social media, news aggregates and opinion sites.

But developments continue to transpire, don't they?

Let's have a look at some.

Claudia Rosett at PJ Media offers an on-the-ground look at Sunday's massive protest in Hong Kong.

I could be mistaken about this, but I don't think Beto has come up with a winning campaign theme with "our country was founded on racism and is still racist today."

Summer's here and the time is right for dancing in Baghdad:

Baghdad (AFP) - Hundreds of Iraqi teenagers clapped along exuberantly to techno beats pumping across a makeshift dance hall on Friday night, a scene their capital had not witnessed in decades.

Neon red, yellow and white stage lights helped transform the basketball court in the People's Stadium in central Baghdad into a club for the "Summer Festival", the first celebration of its kind in the city.

The party started at noon with a car show: classic cars, souped-up four-wheelers and motorcycles with proud owners revving their engines.

As the DJ took the stage, boys and girls alike swayed and sang along to Western tunes, alternated with popular Iraqi hits.

Though there were only a few young women among the 1,000 or so revellers, their presence was notable in a country where public spaces remain conservative.

"I love this type of music," said Layan, a 19-year-old woman in a leather black top and full makeup.

"I hear a lot of people say that we're influenced by the West. Fine, there's no difference to me -- the important thing is I don't have to listen to this music at home in secret anymore," she said, pumping her fist into the air.

Just a few years ago, the sound of staccato gunfire or the echo of car bombs was more common in Baghdad than the resounding bass of electronic music.

Iraq has been hit by nearly four decades of conflict, from a devastating war with Iran in the 1980s to the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Sectarian warfare followed, then the onslaught of the Islamic State group in 2014, only defeated territorially in late 2017.

Friday's festival was the latest indication that Iraq is entering a phase of relative stability, with blast walls and checkpoints coming down across the capital.

Restaurants are again abuzz with families and coffee shops full of young people watching cover bands late into the night, something that not so long ago was considered too dangerous because of the risk of suicide bombers.

Greg Weiner, writing at Law & Liberty, says that Mary Ann Glendon is exceptionally well-suited to lead Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Commission on Unalienable Rights.

Oh, sheesh. The Business Roundtable now repudiates its former position that the a corporation's primary purpose for existing is to show its owners a return on their investment. It's issued a statement saying that the corporation has a "responsibility" to some wider array of "stakeholders." Ain't that nice?

Suit yourself, exterminators of fetal Americans:

Planned Parenthood will be foregoing as much as $60 million annually from a federal family planning program that will carry new anti-abortion rules. 

"Planned Parenthood is still open. We are continuing to fight this rule in court," said Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood, said in a call with reporters Monday. She said the organization would do everything it could to make sure that clinics could stay open. 

The Trump administration is giving healthcare providers until midnight to comply with a new rule that says organizations that accept federal family planning grants cannot directly provide patients with an abortion referral. Critics of the rule call it a "gag rule" because they say the government is forcing them to keep information from patients.

A group of Chicago Teachers Union members go to Venezuela and go all Walter Duranty.