The Daily Signal - Ep. 316: Canadian Hospital Targets 'Sick Kids' With Assisted Suicide

Episode Date: October 11, 2018

A Toronto hospital unveiled a new plan for how to terminate the lives of terminally ill kids—with or without parental consent. Monica Burke joins us to discuss the disturbing development. We also discuss a landmark ruling for religious liberty in Britain.We also cover these stories:-Kanye West meets with President Trump and sounds off about the need for manufacturing jobs, healthy families, and a president who succeeds.-Eric Holder embraces the Democrats' new posture of hostility toward Republicans, and Trump responds.-Pastor Andrew Brunson may soon be released from Turkey,where he's spent the last two years in prison.-U.S. and Russian astronauts survive an engine malfunction in mid-launch.Americans don't like political correctness—not by a long shot, according to new data.The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, October 12. I'm Jenny Maltabano. And I'm Daniel Davis. Physician-assisted suicide has, by and large, not yet swept American shores, but there are some disturbing developments taking place to our north in Canada, where assisted suicide is being considered for children. We'll sit down and discuss that with Monica Burke of the Heritage Foundation, and we'll also discuss a big win for Christian Bakers in the UK,

and why Americans aren't as PC as the media would be. suggest. But first we'll cover a few of the top headlines. Well, Thursday was a big day at the White House. Kanye West made his long-expected appearance with Trump in the Oval Office, and yes, he did wear the Make America Great Again hat. He made quite a show of unity with the president. People expect that if you're black, you have to be Democrat. I have a, I have conversations that basically said that welfare is the reason why a lot of black people end up being Democrat. They say, You know, first of all, it's a limit to amount of jobs. So the fathers lose the jobs, and they say, we'll give you more money for having more kids in your home.

And then we got rid of the mental health institutes in the 80s and the 90s, and the prison rates just shot up. And now you have Shy Rack, what people call Shy Rack, which is actually our murder rate is going down by 20%. Every year I just talked to the superintendent, met with Michael Sachs. that's Ron's right-hand man. So I think it's the bravery that helps you beat this game called life. You know, they try to scare me to not wear this hat, my own friends, but this hat, it gives me power in a way. You know, my dad and my mom separated,

so I didn't have a lot of male energy in my home. And also, I'm married to a family that, you know, a lot of male energy going on. It's beautiful, though. But there's times where, you know, it's something about, you know, I love Hillary. I love everyone, right? But the campaign, I'm with her, just didn't make me feel as a guy that didn't get to see my dad all the time, like a guy that could play catch with his son.

It was something about when I put this hat on and made me feel like Superman. You made a Superman. That's my favorite superhero. Well, Kanye also expressed his hope that the president. would succeed. What I need Saturday night live to improve on, and what I need the liberals to improve on is, if he don't look good, we don't look good. This is our president.

It's true. He has to be the freshest, the flyest, the flyest planes, the best factories, and we have to make our core be empowered. We have to bring jobs into America because our best export is entertainment and ideas. But when we make everything in China and not in America, then we're trying to do. cheating on our country. And we're putting people in positions to have to do illegal things to end up in a cheapest factory ever, the prison system. I'll tell you what, that was pretty impressive.

Well, that really was something. Probably one of the more interesting Oval Office visits we'll see probably ever. Definitely. Well, former Attorney General Eric Holder is in some hot water this week after making a controversial statement. But Michelle Wick says that, you know, when they, go low, we go up. No, no. When they go low, we kick them. That's what this new Democratic Party is about. President Trump quickly weighed in on his comments. You better be careful what he's wishing for, that I can tell you. He's better be careful

what he's wishing for. What do you mean? That's a disgusting statement for him to make. For him to make a statement like that is a very dangerous statement. You know, they talk about us. We are exactly opposite. Well, the FBI arrested a 56-year-old man who apparently was plotting to blow himself up on Election Day. According to a CBS report, Paul Rosenfeld of Hudson Valley, New York, had been working to build a 200-pound bomb to blow himself up with on the National Mall in Washington. His goal was reportedly to draw attention to his political belief known as sortition, which involves officials being chosen randomly rather than by election.

authorities said that if he had been successful, his attack would have, quote, claimed the lives of innocent bystanders and caused untold destruction. President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are putting pressure on Saudi Arabia for answers about missing Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashaghi. He disappeared on October 2nd after entering a Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish officials are unfortunately confident that Khashoggi was murdered inside the consulate and say that they're, They have footage of assassination squads entering the country. Here is Senator Lindsey Graham discussing the situation. I've never been more disturbed than I'm right now. If this did in fact happen, if this man was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul,

that would cross every line of normality in their international community. If it did happen, they would be held to pay. If they're disbrazen, it shows contempt, contempt for everything that we stand for, contempt for the relationship. And I don't want to prejudge, but if it goes down the road that I'm worried about it going down, contempt will be met with contempt. Well, it appears that Andrew Brunson, the U.S. pastor imprisoned in Turkey, could soon be released. NBC News reports that Trump administration officials have reached a secret agreement with the Turkish government to secure Brunson's release. The North Carolina pastor has been imprisoned for roughly two years over accusations of helping

terrorist groups, which he's fully denied. A Soyuz rocket carrying one Russian and one American on its way to the International Space Station failed during its launch and had to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan. Luckily, both men survived and rescue cues were able to get to them quickly. NASA says a full investigation will take place. Up next, we'll talk with Monica Burke about assisted suicide and an encouraging ruling in the UK. Liberals have pretty much cornered the market on 101-style podcasts that break down tough policy issues in the news. Until now, did you know that every week, Heritage Explains intermingles personal stories, news clips, and facts from heritage experts to help explain some of today's hardest issues from a conservative perspective? Look for Heritage Explains on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Well, we're joined now by Monica Burke, a research assistant in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society here at the Heritage Foundation. Monica, thanks for being back on for, I must be the fifth or six time. It's been a few times, definitely. Yeah, but it's been a while since you've been on. So, good to have you. So Monica, you know, we've heard about assisted suicide to an extent here in this country. You know, we saw California legalize it to some degree a while back. But really, we think of it as kind of a European thing, and now we're seeing it more in Canada.

You've written a piece in the Daily Signal about some plans in Canada to expand it. What's happening up there? Yes. So what's happening in Canada is pretty frightening, really. So physician-assisted suicides already legal in Canada. And within the next couple weeks, the Canadian Parliament is supposed to consider expanding who qualifies. So they've been soliciting input. And in light of these developments, the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children,

recently published a study that basically outlines a plan for physician-assisted suicide for children. And part and parcel with this plan is that potentially they could move forward with or without parental consent. So they think that capable, quote unquote, capable minors who could make other health decisions for themselves could potentially be allowed to choose to die. and the parents would not be informed until after the event. Are we talking about people with severe conditions or is there a range of restrictions applying here? That's an excellent question. So I'm not as familiar with the particulars of who they decided in the study ought to qualify who shouldn't. But given the way that the slippery slope has consistently unfolded in Europe and the way that we see it unfolding in Canada, we should expect to see it perhaps.

begin with the terminally ill or those who have a very serious diagnosis. But one of the other categories that Canada is considering expanding physician assisted suicide to are those who have no other diagnosis than mental illness. And so again, where do you draw the line when it comes to mental illness? Something very severe or something as common as depression. People who would otherwise typically receive a suicide prevention. So it's, it's, it's, honestly unclear where the line will be drawn. Go ahead. Oh, I was just going to say, and it's likely the line will keep being pushed further and further

down. Well, it's certainly a slippery slope. And I want to ask you kind of a broad question. Long term, what kind of consequences can a decision like this have on a society? It's suffice it to say that the consequences are pretty bad. In Europe, where physician-assisted suicide has been legalized, it's been continually expanded to include more and more groups and oftentimes doctors will begin to practice non-voluntary euthanasia, which is essentially murder.

And the safeguards on physician-assisted suicide where it's been legalized, even here in the U.S., are typically insufficient to protect against that kind of abuse. So potentially you could have, you know, your grandmother who's been given a serious diagnosis, but death is not imminent or on the horizon. And all they need is your signature and the signature of one of your friends to receive a serious medication that will bring about their demise and you can take it home with them and they could actually be forced to take the medication against their will. So that's here in the United States.

And that's where we haven't even progressed as far down the slippery slope. So the consequences, as you can imagine, for family life, for how we socially, treat the weak, the disabled, the young, the old, it's pretty serious. Are there certain conditions there where, you know, you're talking about people being forced to take it. What's the rationale? What's the justification that the doctors would give for that? I mean, do they have to have a certain condition?

Or is it like a, yeah, just go ahead. So I think once you accept the first principle that death is a compassionate solution to someone's problems, you have moving goalposts about who qualifies to avail themselves of that solution. And the people who are most likely to be pressured to take their own lives are those who deserve the most protection because they're the most vulnerable. And that would be the weak, the disabled, the sick, the young, the elderly. And that's why disability groups have actually been the ones on the forefront pushing back against the physician-assisted suicide movement because they're here to say, hey, one of the

most prominent groups, their name is actually, we're not dead yet. And reminding us that the stereotype is that there are people who perfectly in their right mind for perfectly legitimate and sympathetic reasons are the only ones who will pursue this kind of treatment. And the reality is much more grisly. It's pretty, pretty horrifying, honestly. Is there widespread opposition rising up against this in Canada? Or, you know, who are the main political players. I mean, we have a liberal control of the government in Canada with the prime minister, but is there an opposition that's registering strong dissent here? That is an excellent question. I'm not as familiar with the particulars of their politics. I do know that we've

seen this movement gain ground here in the United States. Hawaii this year became the sixth state in the U.S. to legalize physician-assisted suicide. It's generally raised in, and I'd say almost two dozen states every year for legal consideration. And so we should expect to see more of a push here in the U.S., and I think that trend is true. I'd imagine it's true in Canada as well. So now is the time to rally against it because I don't see the political push ending anytime soon. Well, if we can turn to a subject that's a little bit less depressing because this is actually really good. news, especially. I mean, you and folks in your office have worked on the issue of religious liberty

and marriage over the years. And we have a new story out from the UK where a couple, a married couple of bakers who are devout Christians, just like Jack Phillips here in the United States, decided to turn down the opportunity to make a cake that was promoting same-sex marriage, and they just won their court case. Tell us what happened. Yeah, so this is a really encouraging story, not just because of the legal outcome of the case, but because of the rationale that the court presented for granting a victory to the evangelical bakers. So back in 2014, a pair of evangelical bakers, they refused to bake a cake for a gay man who was working on a campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. And he wanted a cake that said,

support gay marriage on it. And they politely declined. And since then, it has escalated through the court system in the UK. And the court ultimately determined that the bakers cannot be forced to express a political opinion, which they do not believe. So this is a good outcome for religious freedom. They're allowed to act on the religious beliefs about marriage. But most importantly, the rationale for this decision recognizes something very, very important, which is that having a different perspective on the meaning of marriage, thinking that marriage is between one man and one woman, is not inherently discriminatory. It doesn't mean translate to hate towards anyone.

And so we're very encouraged to see this outcome. It reinforces what we saw here in the United States when Jack Phillips was handed a victory for his case where he declined to create a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage. And so hopefully this will continue to steer the conversation in the right direction of realizing that we have to agree to disagree on marriage and respect people's right to have that disagreement. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but this decision was unanimous.

How big of a deal is that? How important is that, would you say? I think that's a pretty big deal, mainly because it's pretty rare that we get to say, hey, let's look to what Europe's doing. Typically, Europe leads the charge in the other direction. And it's pretty exciting, mainly because I think something we've struggled with, here in the U.S., even after the Jack Phillips case, is to make it plain to all Americans that Jack Phillips harbored no discrimination towards anyone.

He was willing to provide the same-sex couple in his case with any other item in his shop. His only objection was to conveying a message about marriage that violated his religious beliefs. And so having this court decision that makes it very clear to the world stage that having a traditional view of marriage is completely and totally fine, and it's okay if we disagree about that, and we can respect each other's beliefs and live harmoniously with one another, even in spite of these very serious disagreements. I mean, that's a pretty big deal.

Absolutely. Well, it's encouraging to see, and we thank you for coming on and talking about these issues, and thank you for your work. Thank you guys for having me. Do conversations about the Supreme Court leave you scratching your head? Then subscribe to SCOTUS 101, a podcast breaking down the cases, personalities, and gossip at the Supreme Court. Well, there is a new study out, and it shows that Americans, they actually strongly dislike PC culture. And that's political correctness.

And it seems a little counterintuitive to what we would see in the new cycles right now and in the political climate that we're in. But Daniel, what this says is that among the general population, almost 80% of people believe that political correctness is a problem. And to me, something that I found even more important is that young people are uncomfortable with it, including 74% of people ages 24 to 29. Yeah, that was, honestly, I probably shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. I mean, you just get the impression through, you know, a lot of what you see in media, or if you've been to a university these days, you see this,

it's kind of hard to believe that this many people really do think political correctness is dumb. And it's very encouraging, especially, you know, last week here in D.C., we had the marchers on Capitol Hill really pretty close to rioting. I mean, it weren't rioting, but they were pretty vicious. And you just got the sense that, man, like, identity politics and political correctness is totally sweeping away things like the rule of law and just basic ideas of fairness and the tribalism, you feel like it's taking over sometimes. And this is actually really encouraging to me. It really says, hey, you know, despite a lot of these political voices that are loud,

there is a silent majority who doesn't buy into it. Right. You know, right now, as the antics keep getting raised higher and higher and things become more ridiculous, I think this study was important for me to remember that what gets put on the news, what gets talked about a lot are the extremes that we see. And sort of like what you said, there's a silent majority of Americans of all ages who are very rational, who are good people who are trying to make informed decisions. And naturally, that would mean that they aren't for political correctness because it bleeds into identity politics and tribalism and less informed decision making. Totally. Well, it's a good place to leave it. An encouraging note. And thanks so much for listening.

to the Daily Signal podcast brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud, and please leave us a review or rating on iTunes to give us any feedback. Rob and Jenny will be with you on Monday. You've been listening to the Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis. Sound design by Michael Gooden, Lauren Evans, and Thalia Rampersad. For more information, visit DailySignal.com.