“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1)

What a spectacle we all got to witness yesterday! By and large, the total solar eclipse came and went, south to north, with both excitement and serenity.

At the Stream home base, the clouds in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex parted just long enough to give the mobs gathered there the full experience they had traveled to see, complete with both darkness and dropping temperatures.

Total Solar eclipse in Dallas, Texas. Millions of people in the path of a solar eclipse across North America are gazing towards the heavens as the moon completely blocks the sun for more than four minutes in some areas. pic.twitter.com/5NOeawaDjv

— The Times Of Earth (@timesofearth) April 8, 2024

Here in Southern Maryland, the clouds held off just long enough for the eclipse to reach its peak. Perhaps you had this experience, too. What was more fun — watching the eclipse or watching little children react to it? Sure, they had to keep being told to put their glasses on. But it’s a safe bet their experience with this natural marvel will be long remembered.

We were warned that animals would react to it strangely. This would include some human beings, like The View‘s Sunny Hostin suggesting the eclipse is a sign of climate change.

Sunny Hostin suggests that the solar eclipse, the earthquake, and the fact that cicadas are coming are a sign of climate change. pic.twitter.com/iKJJzS1QQ7

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 8, 2024

However, you can’t blame this Weather Channel reporter for getting a bit hysterical at the point of totality in Texas. Because, it was pretty amazing.

Now the special glasses will get stashed away until the next total eclipse in the U.S. in 2044. (Or perhaps traded in for earplugs, as we gear up for the historic onslaught of cicadas set to hatch toward the end of April.)

South Carolina Women’s Basketball Coach Happy to Let Biological Men Compete Against Her Team

South Carolina capped off its perfect women’s basketball season Sunday by knocking off Iowa and Caitlin Clark 87-75 to win the NCAA Championship. Even though Clark is moving on to the WNBA, Iowa has a way to take out South Carolina next year, thanks to Coach Dawn Staley.

In a press conference before the finals, Staley declared that biological men should be allowed to compete against women. “If you’re a woman, you should play. If you consider yourself a woman … you should be able to play.” She made clear with a simple “yes” that she meant in sanctioned competitions.

Why wouldn’t schools recruit massive ballers who identify as females, at least during basketball season?

Collegiate athlete-turned-activist Riley Gaines is calling foul on Staley’s comments, telling Fox & Friends Monday she thinks Staley doesn’t even believe what she’s saying, but felt she had to say the P.C. thing.

The bottom line is she knows perfectly well that men’s basketball is a totally different sport than women’s basketball. That’s obvious by the speed of the game, the size of the ball, the sheer amount of layups in women’s basketball compared to dunks when a player gets a fast break in men’s basketball, the distance of the three-point line, the list goes on.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her and she blew it, and truthfully, my guess is she’s okay with it until her team [is] defeated by one or more men playing on the opposite team.

While that may someday come to the NCAA, smaller colleges just got some good news.

NAIA Bans Trans-Identifying Men from Competing in Women’s Sports

The National Association of Interscholastic Athletics has voted to ban trans-identifying men from competing in women’s sports. The new policy declares that only “student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports.” The ban, which takes effect August 1, applies to competitions between schools. Policies regarding males participating in women’s practices and other intramural activities are up to the individual schools.

The vote for the ban was 20-0.

“We know there are a lot of different opinions out there,” NAIA president Jim Carr explained to CBS Sports. “For us, we believed our first responsibility was to create fairness and competition in the NAIA. … We also think it aligns with the reasons Title IX was created. You’re allowed to have separate but equal opportunities for women to compete.”

Vatican Cites “Infinite Dignity” in Stating Position Against Gender Theory

In a document release Monday, the Vatican stated its opposition to the “grave threats” of transgender ideology, affirming the biological reality of males and females.

Five years in the making, Dignitas Infinata opens by stating:

In the light of Revelation, the Church resolutely reiterates and confirms the ontological dignity of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed in Jesus Christ.

While the statement touches on abortion, human trafficking, in vitro fertilization, and surrogate pregnancy, it’s being most touted for its stance on the hot-button topic of gender theory.

Desiring a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes, apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God, entering into competition with the true God of love revealed to us in the Gospel.

You can read Dignitas Infinata here.

Along The Stream

The great John Zmirak discusses the miracle of Fatima with “I’ll See Your Nineveh Eclipse and Raise You One Miracle of the Sun.”

Brandon Aldinger concludes his four-part series “Developing Your Own Bogus-Science Detector” with “Discerning the Bad and the Good.”

And we again offer Al’s Afternoon Tea. It’s loaded with goodies this time, including Trump’s statement on abortion and last night’s celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record.

 

Al Perrotta is managing editor of The Stream, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.