Category Archives: Polygamy

Madrid, December 22 (EFE). An international team of archaeologists and geneticists, with great Spanish participation, has reconstructed the oldest genealogical tree to date, corresponding to a family that lived about 5,700 years ago, and revealed many details about their kinship. and social organization, including the presence of adoption, filial, or polygamous practices.

Researchers have analyzed the DNA of 35 people buried in one of the UKs best-preserved Neolithic cemeteries, in Gloucestershire (UK), which yielded new knowledge about the kinship rules that govern that community, and today they publish their findings in the journal Nature.

All of the individuals were buried in Hazelton North, a long Early Neolithic area with two opposing L-shaped chambers, and scientists have verified, by comparing archaeological analyzes with data extracted from DNA, that 27 individuals belonged to the same family and that the majority are descended from four women who had children by the same man.

Archaeologists from the universities of Newcastle, York, Exeter and Lancashire (UK) and genetics from the universities of the Basque Country, Vienna and Harvard participated in the research, who concluded, by organizing the bodies in the cemetery, that non-biological kinship adoption could be as important as biological for this community From the modern stone age.

Researchers analyzed DNA that they were able to extract from the bones and teeth of 35 buried people whose remains are preserved at the Corinium Museum in Cotswold (UK) and their findings reveal for the first time in such detail how prehistoric families were structured.

University of the Basque Country researcher igo Olalde, the studys lead geneticist and one of the first signatories to the work, noted that it was the oldest family tree ever reconstructed and determined that the description was possible thanks to the excellent conservation of DNA in the cemetery and the use of the latest techniques to recover and ancient DNA analysis.

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Speaking to EFE, Olalde noted that many social patterns are known by anthropologists who study current societies, and noted that the key is that they are the first large biological family recovered in prehistoric times, its the first time we can investigate the These details are straightforward and with great precision in such ancient societies.

The researcher pointed out that until now we have only been able to investigate it indirectly from archaeological data, and explained as an example that if a burial with a man and two women was found, the researchers assumed that it was a man and a couple of childbearing. .

Other evidence regarding female exogamy (that girls leave the family to join other societies), there were already indications of it occurring in the Neolithic because isotope analysis has seen that women tend to be more mobile than men because the geology of the place in which they grew It didnt match where they died, but this is the first time weve seen them directly in the family.

Archaeologist Chris Fowler, of Newcastle University and first author of the publication, highlighted the significance of the findings at North Hazleton Cemetery, and made sure that the architectural arrangement of these and other Neolithic tombs reveals how kinship in those graves worked. Burials.

In the same sense, researcher David Reich, of Harvard University who led his laboratory generating ancient DNA, emphasized that modern techniques will allow genetic fingerprinting to be analyzed with high accuracy to address transcendent questions for archaeologists. .

A few years ago, Ron Benhase, of the University of Vienna, stated that it was difficult to imagine that Neolithic kinship structures would have been known at this level of detail.

igo Olalde highlighted the importance of knowing how these groups are socially organized to reveal their mobility patterns, their relationships with other groups or livestock management, and emphasized that new techniques allow for the sequencing of the complete genomes of ancient humans and will allow us to learn aspects that are still unknown when applied to areas of past knowledge. which have not yet been used.

Thanks to ancient DNA, we can throw new clues into questions and details that archaeologists have been asking about for a long time, because DNA is the only technology that tells us about biological relationships between individuals, a university researcher told EFE from the Basque Country. .

The research was funded, among other things, by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Basque Science Foundation (Ikerbasque), the National Institutes of Health in the United States, various foundations, medical institutes and private donations.

(c) EFE . Agency

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Oldest family tree revealing adoptions, stepchildren, and polygamy - SmallCapNews.co.uk

On Oct. 17, a couple got married in Davis. A typical wedding would not be cover-worthy news at J., but the couple who wed are members of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, a community based in Dimona, Israel, with adherents around the world. J.s editors saw the union of Micael Ben Shaleahk and Aminah Ha Rofah as a unique opportunity to provide a glimpse inside a Jewish adjacent community that many may not be familiar with.

Yet some readers found our coverage of the wedding to be strange, even offensive. They protested that Hebrew Israelites are antisemitic, that they are non-Jewish cultural appropriators who are trying to erase halachic Jews by claiming descent from the ancient Israelites and that, therefore, we should not write about them. One person commented on Facebook, I dont understand why you would glorify a cult with an antisemtic reputation for a Jewish mag, a polygamous male-dominated cult no less.

For over a decade, Ive been researching and publishing articles about Hebrew Israelites in Jewish publications. I know this is a sensitive topic for Jewish readers, one that raises hard questions about identity, authenticity, race and communal boundaries. It is also a topic that requires readers to keep an open mind. There are extremists in the Hebrew Israelite movement, just as there are in every religious and spiritual movement, and unfortunately those extremists have largely shaped the public narrative about who Hebrew Israelites are and how they feel about Jews.

For the record: The African Hebrew Israelites those who, like Micael and Aminah, follow the teachings of spiritual leader Ben Ammi Ben Israel are not antisemitic, cultural-appropriating cultists who are trying to erase Jews. Most live in Israel, where their youth serve in the Israel Defense Forces. They attend Israeli schools and intermarry with Jews. They may have beliefs and customs such as the practice of polygamy that some Jews find uncomfortable or even repellent, but they are not trying to erase Jews or do us harm.

Meanwhile, Jews of color feel that coverage of Hebrew Israelites often comes at their expense. They grumble when the media shine a spotlight on Hebrew Israelites and ignore their stories and concerns. As UC Davis sociologist Bruce Haynes put it to me, Normative Black Jews like [Forward editor] Robin Washington are not as sexy as Hebrew Israelites who curse at the Capitol Mall.

Moreover, Jews of color already struggle to be accepted in Jewish spaces, and some argue that coverage of Hebrew Israelites in the Jewish press makes that process even more challenging because the groups can become conflated in peoples minds.

So why, given these fault lines, did we report on Micael and Aminahs wedding? Because at J., we are tasked with exploring our Northern California Jewish community in all its complexity. Its why we regularly write about Jews from every denomination, and no denomination. Its why we have reported extensively on Karaite Jews, who have a community center in Daly City. And its why we cover non-Jewish religious communities that are connected to us in some way. For example, we recently wrote about a Messianic Jewish synagogue in Carmichael that was plastered with antisemitic flyers. We did so not because we accept Messianic Jews as being inside of our proverbial tent, but rather because as two small religious minorities in proximity to each other, we sometimes face similar challenges, from antisemites in particular.

The Bay Area is full of communities of people who follow different lifestyles and traditions. J. is a Jewish community newspaper, but Jews are not an island. In order to understand our place in the larger society to which we belong, we at J. believe it is important to understand the place of communities like ours, communities like the African Hebrew Israelites.

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Why we covered a Hebrew Israelite wedding J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

When Naheed Farid joined the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of Afghanistans national assembly in 2010 at the age of 27, she hoped that her elevation to public office would show the country that women in democratic systems dont just do the electingthey are also elected. The moment marked the culmination of an education in law and passion for advocacy, both of which were inspired by teenage years spent under Taliban-imposed house arrest.

In the 11 years that she served in the assembly, Farid worked on behalf of Herat to safeguard the equality of ethnic and religious minorities, support economic development projects, and push for an Afghan government-approved peace process amid ongoing fighting with the Taliban.

Farid wasnt the first or only woman to serve in the Wolesi Jirga, but quickly made a name for herself as a staunch defender of gender equality. During her two years heading the Human Rights, Civil Society, and Women Affairs Committee, Farid advocated to protect voting rights, bolster prohibitions against polygamy and child marriage, advocate for gender diversity in the workplace, and expand maternity leave. The commission also helped women and girls on an individual basis, assisting victims of domestic violence and wives seeking divorces from their husbands.

It took only a few short days in August to dash Farids hopes that her lifes work would yield lasting change for Afghanistans women and minorities. The Talibans swift takeover of the countrys provinces, aided by al-Qaeda-aligned fighters, reversed the nearly 20 years of progress that followed the toppling of the first Islamic Emirate in 2001.

Like me, so many women traveled a very bumpy and uneven road toward introducing a new Afghanistan, Farid said in an interview with The Dispatch. But now, as we look back, it has just disappeared. All the roads that we drew, all the paths, all the achievements, we just see nothing.

For Farid, the reversal was all too familiar. The day that the Taliban came to my city, in 1995, I was a teenage girl, she said. On that day, I asked my mother to take me to the school. She said, no, the school is closed. I insisted, and so she took me to the school and asked me to cover my face for the first time in my life. I went to my school and saw a man with a gun sitting in front. They burned so many things inside of the schoolchairs, books, so many things. And that day, they burned my hopes.

Despite Taliban assurances that the countrys schools would remain open to women and girls this time around, girls in Afghanistan have now been barred from secondary school for nearly 100 days.

The stratified systemwhich Farid described as a gender apartheidconfines school-aged girls to their homes, and, particularly amid an unfolding humanitarian crisis, encourages parents to sell their female children into forced marriages. According to some reports, girls as young as 20 days have been auctioned off as child brides as Afghan families struggle against starvation.

Even as Taliban fighters surrounded the countrys provincial capitals in preparation for sweeping offensives, Farid remained hopeful that the Afghan security forces would recover the lost territory. In the days before Herat fell, Farid traveled to her home city to boost morale among the government soldiers responsible for its defense.

Shortly thereafter, however, the countrys leadership reversed course, warning Farid and other at-risk lawmakers of its plans to surrender. She escaped to Iran alongside her three children, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, with only their clothes, a phone, and diapers for her baby. Farids husband and other family members remained in Kabul before eventually escaping via Hamid Karzai airport.

A United Nations World Food Program and Food and Agriculture report from October projected that 22.8 million peoplemore than half of Afghanistans populationface acute food insecurity between November 2021 and March 2022. An estimated 8.7 million of them are at risk of famine amid skyrocketing food prices, low crop yields, and diminished external support.

There has to be a response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan through a trusted corridor and that has to be established as soon as possible. For this, we dont have months. We dont even have days, Farid said. The winter is coming and it's very cold in Afghanistan.

In testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Farid stressed the importance of local non-governmental organizations and civil society groups in the absence of a government able and willing to provide education, health care, and food aid. Without outside assistance, more Afghans will suffer, more Afghans will die, she told the committee. But the Taliban cannot be allowed to set terms and conditions on how this humanitarian assistance is delivered and who it is delivered to.

Asked by The Dispatch about lawmaker concerns that assistance provided to Afghanistan would empower its Taliban leadership, Faridwho has a background in nonprofit managementexplained how establishing proper humanitarian corridors would mitigate the risk of support falling into terrorist hands. A regional partner, namely Tajikistan, would be necessary to give aid organizations a base from which they could maintain headquarters, distribute wages to workers, and deliver goods.

Providing in-kind aid like food and medicine rather than cash payments could also benefit Afghanistans civilian population without enabling its occupiers. The Talibans leadership is currently seeking up to $14 billion in frozen assets belonging to the Afghan central bank, with Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi urging the international community to show mercy and compassion toward Afghans facing food insecurity. But Farid, along with many other Afghan activists and lawmakers, has urged the United States against financial or legal recognition of the jihadist, all-male interim government.

They have never denounced their ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The Haqqani Network, which is on the blacklists of all international bodiesincluding the United Nationsnow has three ministers, including the minister of interior, Farid said. Their rise to power gives other extremist and fundamentalist groups all over the world a sense of pride and a sense of confidence.

And while Farid has been a vocal critic of President Joe Bidens hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan this year, she views her countrys current plight as a multi-administration failure. The 2020 Doha agreement between the Trump administration and the Taliban, Farid argued, left the existing Afghan government with no leverage and emboldened the Taliban. That was not a peace deal, Farid said. Afghanistans government tried to play a role, but unfortunately, because the U.S. already signed a deal with the Taliban, Afghanistans government did not have any choice.

In the time between the deal being signed and the U.S. military withdrawal, Farid and other members of her committee met with lawmaking bodies from around the world to urge them not to abandon Afghanistans women. We met with more than 25 parliaments, including Congress, asking them to safeguard womens rights in the peace process of Afghanistan and to not let the achievements of women be undermined in any negotiation, Farid said. We told them: Dont withdraw in a hasty way, let the situation become more clear, and continue your support for the national security of Afghanistan.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committee who has long advocated for the women of Afghanistan, praised Farid and her fellow members of parliament for their work.

Ms. Farid and her female colleagues who served in the Afghan parliament showed immense courage to seek higher office in the first place, and continue to exemplify the bravery of Afghan women and girls to hold onto their hard-fought rights. The U.S. is committed, across party lines and between Congress and the White House, to support Afghan women and girls so the progress made over 20 years is not erased, Shaheen, who was among the lawmakers Farid consulted, told The Dispatch. We have a moral imperative to stand by Afghan women and girls and make clear to them that we have not, and will not, forget them.

Farid, who now serves as a board member for the Afghanistan-U.S. Democratic Peace and Prosperity Council, remains steadfast in her commitment to charting a new course for her home countrywith women at its center. I hate when the world recognizes the women of Afghanistan only as victims or as beneficiaries, she said. They have been leaders, they have been agents of change in their society.

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'As We Look Back, It Has Just Disappeared' - The Dispatch

Period is the story of an integral part of a woman's life, the story of millions of girls moving forward at an indomitable pace. The story of each girl having a certain number of special days in each month since she reaches a certain age. But it is a matter of great regret that in the socio-economic perspective of our country, this very common biological cycle is not taken as normal. Shame, secrecy, forbidden topic, taboos, the special matter of the female which contributes in the development of genital diseases like cervical cancer.

The uterus is where we are when we are in the womb. And the cancer that is caused by its mouth is the cancer of the cervix. We become fully regulated humans through mitosis cell division. When this orderly division of the body is disturbed in any way, uncontrolled cell division occurs. When this uncontrolled cell division occurs, a lump or wheel is formed in the body. It can be benign, it can also be malignant. Benign is usually harmless, but malignant is harmful. If a lump forms in the cells of the cervix, it is called cervical cancer. According to a 2018 study by the World Health Organization, about 570,000 people worldwide were diagnosed with cervical cancer and about 311,000 people died from it. In Bangladesh, about 12,000 new patients are diagnosed every year and about 6,000 of them die. That is, about half of all patients identified die. This is a picture of cervical cancer in Bangladesh and around the world. But the hope is that with proper treatment, cervical cancer will be completely cured and this is the only cancer that has been vaccinated. Uncontrolled menstruation is one of the symptoms of cervical cancer. It can be different.

There are some things to keep in mind in preventing cervical cancer, for example, not marrying any girl before the age of 18, not taking birth control pill for more than 5 years, prevention of polygamy, etc. Cervical cancer is also caused by smoking, sexually transmitted diseases or uncleanliness. So these should be avoided. Without it, you have to get vaccinated in time.

There are many cancer patients who are indifferent to treatment. In this case, raising awareness is the most important. And, we all should launch a social movement against menstruation taboos so that an environment is created in our society where everyone can talk about menstrual hygiene openly. Sometimes women do not inform family concerning the disease and even feel shy to go to doctor. Sooner they break the demu, better for everyone. It is to keep in mind that uterus is not a shameful organ, it's a mother's and a girl's pride. And period is a greatly special matter.

Samia Jahan is a student of Rajbari Government College and Ashikujaman Syed is Research Assistant, Bioinformatics Research Lab, Center for Research Innovation and Development (CRID).

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Take away the shame of menstruation and cervical problems - theindependentbd.com

Sister Wives is a show that is no stranger to controversy, having made headlines many times over the course of the 10 years that it has been on the air. However, recent seasons have revealed even more drama within the Brown family, with many fans diving deep to learn everything that they can about the high-profile split between Kody and Christine Brown. Recently, viewers took the internet to discuss what impact the significant age gap between Kody Brown and his fourth wife, Robyn Brown, might have had on Christine Browns decision to leave the polygamous family.

Sister Wives tells the story of a large polygamous family, helmed by Kody Brown and his four wives.Browns first three marriages, to his wives Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown, all took place off-camera, well before the reality show started airing on television. Cameras captured the moments when Brown decided, in 2010, that he was ready to start courting a new, much-younger woman, Robyn.

Kody and Robyn Brown were married in 2010. As the first new wife to enter the family in 16 years, tensions were elevated, and many fans wondered how the other wives really felt about Robyn Brown joining the family. Notably, Robyn Brown is quite a bit younger than Kody Browns other wives; she is currently 43, compared to the next youngest wife, Christine Brown, who is 49, according to The Sun. Browns other wives, Janelle and Meri Brown, are 52 and 50, respectively.

Some fans believe that the age gap between Kody and Robyn Brown has been causing friction with the other wives for some time, and could have even played a role in the recent split between Kody and Christine Brown. Many have taken to Reddit to discuss the tension between Robyn Brown and some of Kody Browns other wives.

One fan noted, Imagine you are married for 20 years and your husband gets married to a new, young, attractive woman of childbearing years.

Robyn Browns young age and relative inexperience with polygamy has caused some issues in the Brown family in the past, as documented by the reality show. One fan detailed, I completely agree the age gap/marriage gap had a large part as well.

In early November 2021, Christine Brown took to social media to share that she and Kody Brown had decided to separate. While she didnt reveal the official reason for the split, fans werent exactly surprised by the news. The split itself will be documented on the current season of Sister Wives, but there are many fans who already have their bets placed on the friction with Robyn Brown as being a contributing factor.

In a recent clip from Sister Wives, Robyn Brown opens up in a confessional, admitting that she feels a lot of guilt over the split, and crying over the fact that her family is crumbling. Fans dont feel sorry for her, taking to social media to denounce her as Sobbin Robyn.

One fan wrote, Err newsflash for Sobbin Robyn Youre the reason, while another said Our family is crumbling' Cryn Robyn Like she didnt have a big hand in it! Smh.

Fans will undoubtedly have even more to say as the latest season of Sister Wives continues to unfold on TLC.

RELATED:Sister Wives: Which MLM Businesses Are the Browns Involved With?

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'Sister Wives' Fans Think Robyn Brown's Age and Marriage Gap Is to Blame for the Polygamist Family Falling Apart - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

B.H. Roberts historian, politician and leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died in 1933. Yet, within LDS church circles and even beyond, his influence lingers.

Roberts led a rich and varied life. He served a mission for his faith, edited a multi-volume history of the Church and ran for Congress twice. He won one of those elections but was denied his seat because he practiced polygamy. A devoted Mormon, Roberts once disguised himself and recovered the bodies of two murdered missionaries, and returned them to their parents. And his legacy isnt without controversy either: Roberts was also a fierce opponent of womens suffrage. The historian John Sillito has completed an exhaustive biography of Roberts. He joins us this Friday at 11 a.m. to talk about the life and influence of B.H. Roberts.

John Sillitos book isB.H. Roberts: A Life in the Public Arena[Amazon|Bookshop].

Excerpt from:

B.H. Roberts: A Life in the Public Arena - KUER 90.1

These are excerpts from The Salt Lake Tribunes free Mormon Land newsletter, a weekly highlight reel of developments in and about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Want this newsletter with additional items in your inbox? Subscribe here. You also can support Mormon Land with a donation at Patreon.com/mormonland, where you can access, among other exclusive gifts and content, transcripts from our Mormon Land podcasts.

The story of Mormon founder Joseph Smith appears in Latter-day Saint scripture, official church histories, scholarly biographies, even films.

In May, it will appear in a new graphic novel.

Joseph Smith and the Mormons, from the mind and hand of Noah Van Sciver, is set for release in May 2022.

The critically acclaimed cartoonist, who was raised as a Latter-day Saint, will cover the monumental moments in Smiths life, according to a description on Amazon, including translation of the faiths foundational scripture, the Book of Mormon, anti-Mormon violence, the birth of polygamy, the church leaders pursuit of the presidency, and his imprisonment and ultimate assassination.

With a respectful and historical approach, and strikingly illustrated, the blurb states, this graphic novel is the ultimate book for those curious about the origins of the Mormon faith and the man who started it all.

The Bleeding Cool news site offers an early peek, with illustrations that depict Smith explaining to his loved ones how he fended off attackers and why he cannot show them the gold plates from which he reported translating the Book of Mormon.

You cannot see them ever! the budding prophet proclaims. Ive been warned against it! If any of you should ever look upon this holy record, it would mean doom for you!

(Rick Bowmer, The Associated Press) In this Aug. 4, 2016, file photo, Swig soda shop employee Avery Griffiths poses for a photo with a "dirty soda," in Bountiful, Utah.

Its time to come clean about so-called dirty sodas: Theyre not just a Utah or a Latter-day Saint craving.

While Dr Pepper spiked with vanilla, Coke laced with lime and Pepsi peppered with peppermint certainly proved popular in the Beehive State and with members of the dominant religion, these and other soda blends are turning, and tilting, heads across the nation.

In fact, soda shops are popping up outside the Wests Mormon Belt, The New York Times reports, in South Carolina, Florida, Texas and Oklahoma.

It didnt exactly hurt business among members, however, when Mitt Romney, the nations most famous Latter-day Saint politician, was pictured swigging a Diet Coke during his 2012 presidential run or when the church reaffirmed that pounding a Pepsi, downing a Dew or consuming any kind of caffeinated cola does not violate the faiths Word of Wisdom health code.

That last batch of additions to the churchs General Handbook warns members against using threatening, bullying, degrading, violent, or otherwise abusive language or images online.

It also counsels members to avoid all statements of prejudice toward others.

Read the story.

Sharon Eubank stands as a prominent example of the expanding role of women in the church. Still, some want to see more equity.

The 58-year-old Eubank is neither married nor a mother, yet she serves as first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency and head of Latter-day Saint Charities, the churchs humanitarian arm.

Weve made mistakes in our history, and were still making mistakes, Eubank told The Associated Press, but the foundation is to try and always improve.

Read the story.

(Rick Bowmer | AP) Sharon Eubank, first counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society, which is made up of all adult women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, poses for a photograph Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, in Salt Lake City. Though she isnt the first single or child-free woman to hold a prominent role in the church, Eubanks example is encouraging to other members during a time of growth for womens roles in the faith nearly a decade after a key change for young women in its iconic missionary force. Still, some want to see a faster pace for progress.

Those eager for the Salt Lake Temple to reopen will have to wait and even longer than originally anticipated.

The church announced this week that the four-year renovation of the temple and the makeover of the surrounding square will take at least five years after modifications and additions to the project and scope pushed back the timeline for completion.

Read the story.

Most Latter-day Saints (60%) see no valid religious reasons to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine, a newly released poll shows. Thats a good thing, since the church says members cannot expect their bishops to sign a waiver from the shots.

Indeed, the Salt Lake City-based faith and its top authorities have wholeheartedly supported vaccination from the state.

Read the story.

Two suspects have been arrested in the Dec. 3 shooting of an 18-year-old Latter-day Saint missionary serving in Alabama.

Meanwhile, Michael Fauber of Dayton, Ohio, is improving and is expected to recover from his wounds.

Read the story.

Brigham Youngs grave and family cemetery in downtown Salt Lake City are being vandalized, so the church wants to heighten a fence and undertake other renovations.

But the effort is running into barriers with the citys Historic Landmark Commission. And then there is the issue of newly discovered unmarked graves.

Read the story.

A new monument under construction at Salt Lake Citys This Is the Place Heritage Park aims to recognize the contributions of Black pioneers during the Mormon migration.

There are more stories, more men, more women who sacrificed so much, principal advocate Mauli Junior Bonner said, especially those who had to endure enslavement while being an early pioneer.

Read the story.

Utah Latter-day Saints may rank among the nations most reliably Republican voting blocs, but right now they are distinctly down on Donald Trump.

If the former president ran again, a new poll shows, barely a third (34%) would vote for him in a GOP primary.

Read the story.

Subscribe here to get this and additional newsletter items free in your inbox each week. You also can support The Tribunes Mormon Land with a donation at Patreon.com/mormonland to access the full newsletter, along with other exclusive content, gifts and transcripts of our Mormon Land podcasts.

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Latest from Mormon Land: A graphic novel about Joseph Smith and the spread of 'dirty' sodas - Salt Lake Tribune

Sister Wives' Meri Brown Admits She's 'Lonely' In Kody Brown Marriage

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Source: @therealmeribrown/Instagram

Dec. 15 2021, Published 12:55 p.m. ET

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Meri Brown reflects on her rocky marriage to hubby Kody Brown, and how the pandemic changed their lives in the sneak peek of the upcoming Sunday, December 19, episode of Sister Wives.

"This is one of the things I like doing, kind of getting away from it all," the 50-year-old reality TV star says while hiking in Flagstaff, Arizona. "We've got COVID going on, I'm running two businesses, we're quarantining from each other," she adds, reported UsWeekly.

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Source: @therealmeribrown/Instagram

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While enjoying her exercise Kody's first wife spills, "As a family we haven't really spent much time together," as she adds, "it's weird." As she turns to a confessional, Meri admits the time away from her family has left her feeling "lonely," before she tearfully declares "I just miss my family."

Kody then chimes in as he notes the pandemic has been rough on his family as a whole, but Meri has struggled the most. "I always saw one of the main benefits about plural marriage is that anybody in the family would never actually suffer true loneliness," he dishes. "The way things have played out for our family, that's not necessarily true. My relationship with Meri is not the type of relationship where Im going to talk to her every day."

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Meri who grew up in polygamy and Kody met in 1989 and got engaged after only a few months. The duo wed in 1990 and later welcomed Janelle Brown in 1993 into their plural marriage followed by Christine Brown in 1994. Meri then agreed to divorce Kody so he could legally marry Robyn Brown in 2014. Christine announced in November she and Kody had called it quits after 20 years.

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Meri, who shares 26-year-old daughter Mariah with Kody, reveals the duo's dynamic has changed. "Kody and I we had a conversation recently, that kind of came down to, 'We're friends.' Which I guess is a good thing," the Becoming Sister Wives author says. "I guess I just have hope for more than that."

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The Lizzie's Heritage Inn owner then notes that her partner of more than 30 years gives her mixed signals, leaving her feeling confused. "Kody has said some things to me more recently that leads me to believe that there's no repairing our relationship. There are days when I get very, very discouraged. Then there are days that I have so much hope."

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The reality TV duo have been at odds ever since her 2015 catfishing scandal. Meri struck up a relationship with an online admirer she believed to be a man, but who turned out to be a woman. Since the affair was made public, the duo have struggled to make their union work.

Sister Wives airs on TLC Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.

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Meri Brown Admits To Feeling 'Lonely' In Her Marriage To Kody Brown As She Declares The 'Sister Wives' Duo Are Just 'Friends' - OK!

Polygamous marriages may not be performed in the United Kingdom, and if a polygamous marriage is performed, the already-married person may be guilty of the crime of bigamy under section 11 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.[1]

Bigamy is a statutory offence in England and Wales. It is committed by a person who, being married to another person, goes through a ceremony capable of producing a valid marriage with a third person. The offence is created by section 57 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861:

Whosoever, being married, shall marry any other person during the life of the former husband or wife, whether the second marriage shall have taken place in England or Ireland or elsewhere, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding seven years ...: Provided, that nothing in this section contained shall extend to any second marriage contracted elsewhere than in England and Ireland by any other than a subject of Her Majesty, or to any person marrying a second time whose husband or wife shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years then last past, and shall not have been known by such person to be living within that time, or shall extend to any person who, at the time of such second marriage, shall have been divorced from the bond of the first marriage, or to any person whose former marriage shall have been declared void by the sentence of any court of competent jurisdiction.

This section replaced section 22 of the Offences against the Person Act 1828 for England and Wales,[2] which replaced section 1 of the Bigamy Act 1603 (1 Jac 1 c 11).[3] This section replaces section 26 of the Act 10 Geo. 4 c. 34 for Northern Ireland.[2]

Subsequent case law has allowed exceptions for cases where the defendant believes on reasonable grounds that their first spouse is dead[4] or that the marriage has been dissolved.[5]

Bigamy is triable either way.[6] A person guilty of bigamy is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years,[7] or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the prescribed sum, or to both.[8][9]

Relevant cases are:

There have been reports of Muslims practicing polygamy in the UK.[10]

Bigamy was a common law offence[11] in Scotland prior to the passing of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 when it became a statutory offence.[12] It is an offence for a person to enter into a marriage or civil partnership while either party knows that they, or the other party, is married to or in a civil partnership with another person. The offence is punishable with up to 2 years in prison or a fine (or both).[13]

In Northern Ireland, a person guilty of bigamy is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years,[14] or on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twelve months, or to a fine not exceeding the prescribed sum, or to both.[15]

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Polygamy in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia

So, are you legally married, you didnt get divorced? asked one clerk.

Well have to deny that, let me go grab the other supervisor real quick so I can get confirmation but as far as Im aware you cant be married to two people at the same time, said another clerk.

That wasthe exchange that took placeat Yellowstone County Courthouse in Montana last week when a married man applied for a (second) marriage license to wed another woman. After the Supreme Court issued its Obergefell decision last week, making gay marriage legal throughout the country, it was probably inevitable that polygamous groups would begin to challenge state statutes that have declared plural marriage a misdemeanor.

In a piece on the websiteRealClearPolitics, Sean Trendemakes the argumentthat polygamous marriage is unlikely to become acceptable or legal anytime soon. Whereas most Americans know someone who is gay, the same cannot be said for polygamous groups. It is one thing to say that gays, as some sort of abstraction, should not marry; it is another to say that your neighbors kid is stuck living alone. The same simply is not true of polygamists, who tend to live apart from society (not entirely by choice). This probably isnt how we should make moral decisions, but I dont have much doubt that it is how an awful lot of peopledomake these decisions.

But it is the fact that polygamists do tend to live apart that should make us think twice about whether polygamy should be legal as well. Increasingly, it seems that polygamy is simply incompatible with democratic values.

In a piece she wrote for theWall Street Journalin 2011, Rose McDermott, a professor of political science at Brown University,wrote about her researchon polygamy, which is practiced by substantial subcultures in France, Britain, and the U.S., as well as across religious lines in Africa.

According to the information I have helped to collect in the Womanstats database, women in polygynous communities get married younger, have more children, have higher rates of HIV infection than men, sustain more domestic violence, succumb to more female genital mutilation and sex trafficking, and are more likely to die in childbirth. Their life expectancy is also shorter than that of their monogamous sisters. In addition, their children, both boys and girls, are less likely to receive both primary and secondary education.

There are those who might argue that it is precisely because of the illegality of polygamy that these groups are kept from joining mainstream society. But McDermott suggests that another factor is at work:

Polygynist cultures need to create and sustain an underclass of unmarried and undereducated men, since in order to sustain a system where a few men possess all the women, roughly half of boys must leave the community before adulthood. Such societies also spend more money on weapons and display fewer social and political freedoms than do monogamous ones.

When small numbers of men control large numbers of women, the remaining men are likely to be willing to take greater risks and engage in more violence, possibly including terrorism, in order to increase their own wealth and status in hopes of gaining access to women.

For an interesting description of some of these problems in the ghettoized suburbs of Paris, see, for instance, Jane Kramers2004New Yorkerpiece. Along with female genital mutilation, a polygamous structure is fundamental to the structure of these communities, and related to their general sense of lawlessness.

Prosecutors in the U.S. have found it notoriously difficult to police polygamous marriage. After all, if people dont apply for official marriage licenses, its hard to accuse them of being married to more than one person. But because polygamy has so many clear side effectsgirls are typically assigned to a man at an age far below the age of consent, large groups of boys are often expelled from these communities, children are generally kept from receiving any kind of educationit is possible to know when and where polygamy is being practiced.

Whether or not it seems like the next legal step on this slippery slope, polygamy is a much different animal from gay marriage. Letting the men who run these communities have free rein and the stamp of approval from the federal government will only deepen the social problems polygamy causes. And the victims will become more helpless than they already are.

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The Problems with Polygamy | Institute for Family Studies