Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
Angela Davis was a dedicated fangirl of Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev and cult leader Jim Jones. So why is she presented to children as a hero? Every day, my son, who is in seventh grade, sees a quotation from Angela Davis painted on his school’s wall: “Radical simply means grasping things at the root.” (The … Read more
When debating trans activists, it’s best not to use preferred pronouns or defensively emphasize one’s heartfelt sympathy for “trans people.” Doing so is playing into a trap. Much of what is intended as courtesy is interpreted as concession. And much of what is intended as a show of good faith is interpreted as weakness. Consider … Read more
Remember all the special interest giveaways in the Inflation Reduction Act? While it was doubtful that legislation would ever reduce inflation, it was a cornucopia of subsidies and tax credits to green energy companies. The GOP plan to demand cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling originally included many of these tax credits, but … Read more
Legislators in California are considering a bill that would allow state officials to separate children from their families without letting the parents know until after the fact. Government authorities could do this for children who struggle with gender identity problems but whose parents are not being “ affirming ” of their new identification as the … Read more
The high school graduation rate in Washington, D.C., is climbing. However, student school performance seems to be falling dramatically. While more and more seniors graduate high school, test scores are down and absenteeism is up. According to a recent report from the D.C. Policy Center, graduation rates at D.C. public schools and public charter schools … Read more
In a short 1814 fable from Russian poet Ivan Krylov, the Inquisitive Man spends three hours at a natural history museum and tells his friend he “saw everything there was to see and examined it carefully” and found it “all so astonishing.” The friend then asks what he thought of the elephant. The man retorted: … Read more
Welcome to the Middle Ages. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself: How, in the year 2023, did humans begin to debate propositions like “Can men become women?” How can a society that invents vaccines and sends vehicles to other planets start to doubt the sexual dimorphism of humanity? Or begin to wonder whether our … Read more
As federal spending continues to rise, accumulated federal debt will soon reach all‐time highs relative to the size of the economy. Federal debt held by the public will hit 107 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2028, surpassing the previous peak after World War II. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) often highlights the rising … Read more
Democrats’ war on hidden fees glosses over their own role in nickel-and-diming residents. Democrats are still trying to get political traction for President Joe Biden’s remarkable claim that among the gravest threats facing America — gasoline, police, Marjorie Taylor Greene — is the specter of hidden fees in commercial transactions. But the president’s message doesn’t … Read more
This week, the University of Pittsburgh was under fire from State Rep. La’Tasha D. Mayes, who objected to conservative speakers, including competitive swimmer Riley Gaines, Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles, and Daily Wire podcast host Cabot Phillips. Mayes’ objections reflect the growing anti-free speech movement, and its rationale of “speech-as-harm” that is sweeping the nation. … Read more
There is an interesting development in the controversy at Stanford Law School where U.S. Circuit Court Judge Kyle Duncan was shouted down by law students and condemned by a law school dean for discussing his conservative judicial views. Student protesters reportedly published the names of students in the Federalist Society online as part of their … Read more
I recently wrote how public educators and unions were methodically killing public education. The best example this week comes from New York where a school board committee has solved the dismal math and reading scores for children in the system . . . they lowered the standards. This is not the first system to gut … Read more
Last week the Senate Democrat majority was hospitalized with Senator John Fetterman dispatched to a psych ward and Senator Dianne Feinstein, who doesn’t seem to know where she is, hospitalized for shingles. Fetterman and Feinstein didn’t let being hospitalized slow them down and went right on co-sponsoring bills even though the former had to be … Read more
Why are Democrats so bad at running cities? Frank Rizzo was no surprise. After presiding over a reign of brutality as superintendent of police in Philadelphia in the late 1960s, he was twice elected mayor of that perennially misgoverned city and probably would have been elected to a third term if the city council hadn’t … Read more
While the Biden administration has been busy encouraging and funding the Israeli protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reforms, it has also launched a far more potentially dangerous and lethal attempt to destabilize the leading military power in the Middle East. The wave of domestic protests in Israel comes on the heels … Read more
“Be not conformed to this age,” St. Paul warned the Romans, implying that Christians ought to fit a bit uncomfortably in this world. This discord shines forth brilliantly in office breakrooms across America on Ash Wednesday every year as someone inevitably brings in a king cake and invites colleagues to join in consuming it. The … Read more
The senior-citizen membership organization has taken some positions that aren’t good for senior citizens. Behind its never-ending feel-good marketing campaigns, AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, is a multi-billion-dollar organization that spends millions lobbying Congress and state legislatures — making the organization an influence-peddling powerhouse. Though the group boasts 38 million … Read more
The temptation is eternal to use taxes, regulations, subsidies, and mandates to steer the economy in politically desired directions. Call it the Eternal Urge to Industrial Policy. Democrats, for the past 15 years, have tried to use government power to make corporations chase “green profits”: green energy, electric cars, green building, etc. Both parties seem … Read more
People can never be made incorruptible. We can, however, design governmental systems filled with checks and balances that limit the temptations. Whenever some astounding corruption scandal explodes onto the front pages, the public is aghast and policymakers cobble together new reforms that promise to keep such outrages from occurring again. Occasionally, prosecutors (who are sometimes … Read more
As legislators refuse to act, benefits will be cut without any possibility of sheltering those seniors who are poor. President Joe Biden tweeted last week that he will be a “nightmare” for Republicans who dream of cutting Social Security and Medicare. With this statement, Biden showed that he’s either shockingly ignorant about these two programs … Read more
As government workers—though fewer than a third of private‐sector office workers—get a day off Monday for Presidents’ Day (legally, though not in fact, George Washington’s Birthday), I’m thinking about presidents. Every few years Siena College asks historians and political scientists to rate the presidents. Presidential scholars love presidents who expand the size, scope and power … Read more
It isn’t a civil rights cause, it isn’t a new form of free expression, it isn’t a natural societal evolution. It’s insanity. And facilitating it, as in the case of the supposed “medical professionals” increasingly pushing it on children, is evil. We’re seeing this in more and more vivid detail as the transgender craze — … Read more
“F*** your prayers” is the official message of Ranjeev Puri, a leader in Michigan’s Democratic Party. After a horrific mass murder at Michigan State University, Puri, the majority whip in Michigan’s House of Representatives, took to Twitter to take aim at the real bad guys. “Today, we begin to collectively heal from the horrific events … Read more
I recently wrote about how public schools and boards are making the case for school choice advocates with failing scores and rising controversies. The latest shocking statistic was released this week that 23 schools in Baltimore City had zero students who tested proficient in math. Those schools include 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three … Read more
A rogues’ gallery of institutions that anybody with an independent mind should skip. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a civil liberties group that began with a focus on academia, just published a rogues’ gallery of institutions of higher education that anybody with an independent mind should avoid. “Each year, FIRE bestows a … Read more