Facing a barrage of criticism for pulling ads featuring a lesbian couple from its airwaves, the Hallmark Channel has reversed course, and says it will now work to “reinstate the commercials.” (Wamsley, NPR)
Read MoreAt least 1.6 million Brazilians have signed a petition against a television show depicting Jesus as a closeted homosexual. The film, produced by the comedy YouTube channel Porta dos Fundos, premiered in Brazil on December 3 on Netflix. The online petition calls on the streaming service to remove the “villainous” Christmas special for its insensitivity towards Christian viewers. (Elliott, London Times)
Read MoreMarriage is playing a smaller role within families, as more people delay tying the knot, live together without marrying or divorce. One exception is same-sex couples, who are marrying at higher rates after winning the nationwide right in a 2015 Supreme Court ruling. (Byron, The Wall Street Journal)
Read MoreThose sounding the alarm include the nation’s "mental health czar," as well as doctors in Colorado, California and Massachusetts where marijuana is legal for recreational use. They say the facts are irrefutable: Excessive use of high-THC pot and concentrated oil is linked to psychotic episodes that in some cases develop into full-blown schizophrenia. (Hughes, Innes & O’Donnell, USA Today)
Read MoreFor the first time over a half century, more people in the United States are dying at home than in hospitals, a remarkable turnabout in Americans’ view of a so-called “good death.”In 2017, 29.8 percent of deaths by natural causes occurred in hospitals, and 30.7 percent at home, researchers reported on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Kolata, The New York Times)
Read MoreWhile alcohol consumption may not be declining, maybe we’re beginning to regard alcohol more similarly to the way Europeans do, which is to say as a part of life or a meal, rather than its own separate category. What may seem like a rapid about-face from the first half of the decade, however, is actually indicative of a much slower shift in the way Americans consume alcohol — or don’t. (Jennings, Vox)
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