The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday sided with the pro-life community in reversing a lower court ruling that would have forced crisis pregnancy centers to promote abortions.

At issue was a California law, the Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency Act (FACT Act), that required licensed crisis pregnancy centers to notify women that California offers free or low-cost abortions. The centers also were required to give women a phone number where they could schedule an abortion. Further, the FACT Act required unlicensed crisis pregnancy centers to tell women the centers were not licensed to provide medical services.

Crisis pregnancy centers often are supported by pro-life organizations and churches and offer free counseling, pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to women. They also assist pregnant women financially.  

Crisis pregnancy centers in California sued to overturn the law, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it.

But in a 5-4 ruling by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the justices reversed the Ninth Circuit’s opinion and sent it back to that court “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

“We hold that petitioners are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the FACT Act violates the First Amendment,” Thomas wrote.

The law, he said, raises the question of whether California was…

Thousands of Swedish citizens are having microchips implanted under their skin to replace credit cards, keys and personal identification – an invasive action that is sure to draw concern from privacy advocates and perhaps End Times theologians, too.

Agence France-Presse reported that about 3,000 citizenshave taken the step out of a sense of convenience.

“Swedes have gone on to be very active in microchipping, with scant debate about issues surrounding its use, in a country keen on new technology and where the sharing of personal information is held up as a sign of a transparent society,” AFP reported.

Ulrika Celsing, a 28-year-old Swede, has a microchipin her hand. To enter her work, she waves her hand in front of a box and then types in a code, AFP reported. No key or physical ID card is needed.

“It was fun to try something new and to see what one could use it for to make life easier in the future,” she said.

The chip also has replaced her gym card, AFP reported. Sweden’s national railway allows people to use microchips in place of tickets. Patrons can board the train by having their hand scanned. 

Futurism.com’s Victor Tangermann expressed concern over the technology, which uses near-field communication (NFC) and “can be hacked with the use of a specialized reader and a lot of coding skills.”

“Smartphones have tackled this security problem by…

The president of Marvel Studios says future films will include lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender superheroes, although he’s not giving any hints as to who it will be.

Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige made the comments during an interview with The Playlistwebsite, which had asked him about the absence of LGBT characters in Ant-Man and the Wasp.

The Playlist reported the exchange:

Playlist: “When are we getting a Gay, Bi, LGBTQ, out character in the MCU?  Is it even in the works?”

Feige: “Yes.”

The Playlist: “That’s the answer?”

Feige: “Yeah, that’s the answer.”

The Playlist: “It’s not someone we’ve seen yet, I’m guessing?”

Feige: “Both.”

The Playlist: “Both?”

Feige: “Both ones you’ve seen and ones you haven’t seen.”

The Playlist’s Gregory Ellwood said Feige’s last answer “likely confirms” that Valkyrie from Thor: Ragnarok is bisexual – a theory which Tessa Thompson (who plays Valkyrie) and the director said was the case, even if the scene in question was cut from the film.

Other films in development in the Marvel Cinematic Universe include Spider-Man: Far From Home and Captain Marvel.

Marvel Comics have had gay characters for more than 25 years. The first major character to come out as LGBT was Northstar in 1992, who was married in 2012.

On Entertainment Weekly’s Facebook page,…

When she was 12, Anjali Mitter Duva spent a year living in India with her Indian father and Jewish American mother. During a school vacation, the family traveled to Rajasthan, a desert region in the northwestern part of the country. After a long, uncomfortable train ride, they reached the medieval city of Jaisalmer, where a young teenager’s angsty frustration with family travel was quickly transformed into what she describes as pure awe.

“It’s completely gorgeous, with a stunningly blue sky and everything else in shades of orange, yellow, ochre and sandstone,” said Duva, who lives in Arlington, Mass. “Everything is super-saturated.”

In that stunning environment, Duva was particularly captivated by a local girl performing a sacred dance called kathak.

“I had been plucked out of my life for this year,” she recalls. “And here was my counterpart, this other 12-year-old girl. I remember this feeling of what made me be me, what made her be her, and how we were both there at the same place at the same time.”

That awe stayed with Duva. Nearly two decades after her trip, she published her first novel, “Faint Promise of Rain” (She Writes Press, 2014), set in the desert of Rajasthan and featuring as its protagonist a young Hindu dancer.

Travel, psychologists say, can change lives, especially when it’s to destinations that elicit awe and wonder. The feelings that…