David Quinn

Commentator. @independent_ie, @thetimes, @WSJFreeEx, @irishcathnews etc. Co-presenter of Beyond the Pale podcast. CEO of Views my own.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@EamonDelaney10 It was still played and my question still stands.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

12,000 turned out tonight in Muslim Kosovo to watch Israel play their home team. Are we morally superior to them?

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

In the wine section of the local Tesco today. Described as a 'heavy red'.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@abrahamson_ed Wow. Would McEntee and Martin care to comment?

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@Casey5122dark @BrendanFalvey @timcrowley_ Yes. That explains all previous outbreaks of groupthink.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

I have little doubt Irish academia is just as biased. Why should the public fund something where the left is massively over-represented? @timcrowley_ @Casey5122dark

[Steve Stewart-Williams @SteveStuWill]

Not only have conservatives become vanishingly rare in academia, so have centrists. That’s how complete the left’s dominance is: Even moderates are now a fringe group in academia.

https://t.co/3TCZW5Y1T7

[Michael Kelly @MichaelPTKelly]

One in ten Christians in the world is persecuted because of their faith - me in The @irish_news this morning.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

See here: “Parents are also not obliged to provide a religiously 'neutral' upbringing in the name of the child's right to an 'open future'...The rights of parents to freedom of religion or belief include their rights to educate their children according to their own conviction and to introduce their children to religious initiation rites.” (Ignore the headline). https://t.co/Nk6NPTiOou

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

Mary seems to think UN treaties forbid infant baptism in its present form. But she is totally wrong about this, and senior UN figures have said so. (See replies for an example). https://t.co/WsXuKaO7Gw

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@maxbiaggi30 @jasonomahony Possibly, but I can't see how the frontlines properly unfreeze. Meanwhile, the infrastructure of both countries gets battered (but Ukraine's more than Russia's because of size differences etc).

[More Births @MoreBirths]

A Mother of 14 On How to Solve the Fertility Crisis
Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing tenured economics professor and mother of fourteen Catherine Pakaluk speak at the University of Virginia on "Faith, Fertility and the Future of Family."

I do my best to write about the causes and solutions to the birthrate crisis but ultimately, we need models of success. And there is no one better to help us understand high-functioning pronatalism - one that recognizes our values of education and success - than the Harvard-educated speaker and author Dr. Pakaluk.

Here are some highlights from her talk:

The Old World is Gone
There was a time when having children was the natural and largely inevitable result of coupling up. When men and women got romantically involved, one could expect at least a few children as a byproduct. Kids came and people had to figure things out.

The revolution has been gradual. There were rubber condoms in the 1800s, but they weren't very good. Latex condoms were invented in the 1920s and were much better. And on and on.

We've reached the point where children have to make their case and each child has to justify their own existence. And the math just isn't adding up.

So many costs
Pakaluk lists the huge costs of parenthood:
· Time
· Money
· Sleep
· Plans
· Status
· Accomplishments
· Freedom
· Hobbies
· Life
No wonder fertility is at all-time lows.

What can overcome all the costs?
Children need to offer a very high value proposition to meet all those costs.

This is why the religious are almost the only ones not experiencing a collapse in birthrates. They tend to have a worldview that values children profoundly.

Pakaluk, who interviewed successful mothers of many for her book Hannah's Children, uses quotes from those mothers to describe a particular outlook where children have extraordinary value, a value so high that all costs are overcome.
· “A child is the most worthwhile thing you can do”
· “Children are blessings from God”
· “Children are a unique gift, a light in the world”
· “Children are life’s greatest joy”
· “The salvation of the world is the birth of a child”

The Best Pronatal Policies?
Pakaluk is skeptical that common pronatal policies like cash incentives and tax relief will persuade people to have children. (Perhaps a bit too skeptical?)

What does she suggest? Religious liberty as family policy. School vouchers as a way to let people educate children according to their values. "Cultivate a world where Hannahs and their communities thrive." (Hannah = A reference to one of the bible's greatest stories.)

More pointers
· You can cultivate a desire for children. That is a value that can be taught and learned.
· Marriage should be a foundation, not a capstone.
· Plan your career around children, not children around your career.
· Pakaluk seems to have it all, but it didn't happen all at the same time. She began her tenure-track journey at 40, after many years of motherhood.

The greatest white pill
Demography can feel extraordinarily grim. Some of the greatest nations in the world are rapidly fading, and we confront the deep-down fear that civilization itself is dying.

But here is an antidote and it works completely.

Pakaluk is not only succeeding in this generation. Her children, highly educated and successful in the world, have given her around 35 grandchildren so far and there seem to be a whole lot more in the future. She's still so young!

The shift to the kinds of values embodied in those quotes is profound. But there are pockets of people who are making the shift, and it is really working! They will carry the world forward.

Amid our demographic winter, there are quiet flashes of spring, and the sight is incredible!

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@TalksWild That is true but Scargill came out to fight class war.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@Angst12344 @Ben_Scallan Yes, I'm including those illegally claiming asylum.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

I've seen someone called a 'Clarity Reporter' turn up on the RTE Six One News a few times. His job is to protect the public from 'misinformation'. Why do I not feel reassured?

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@SirStevotheDivo Interesting.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@AndreaCepova What do you think of her performance as Prime Minister?

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

@ferg_r_n I have never said Israel is acting properly in Gaza. I have no doubt war crimes have taken place. But I also know there is too much focus on Israel, and not enough on Hamas and the pain it has inflicted on Gazans.

[David Quinn @DavQuinn]

Enormous crowds out for the Pope again on the latest leg of his visit to South America.

[ROME REPORTS @romereports]

🔴 People everywhere! An estimated three million have flooded the streets to welcome Pope Leo XIV

Crowds have lined the avenues, packed the sidewalks and gathered on bridges and expressway ramps to greet the pope