Culture wars
November 19, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Free Press founder/editor Bari Weiss has posted the text of her Federalist Society Barbara K. Olson lecture “You are the last line of defense” together with video at The Free Press. Weiss’s lecture runs to some 4,000 words, but nothing in it is superfluous. Nothing is expendable. Events have not superseded it. The message remains urgent. Here is an excerpt taken from the top of Weiss’s remarks: Some Israelis were
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November 16, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Ferdinand Magellan was one of the world’s greatest explorers. He led the first expedition to sail around the world, although he didn’t finish the voyage, having been murdered by natives in what is now the Philippines. Magellan’s greatness as an explorer and navigator has been recognized in many ways. For example, he discovered the Strait of Magellan at the bottom of South America. And his expedition observed and recorded the
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November 10, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Clifford May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times. He is a veteran reporter, foreign correspondent, and editor for the New York Times and other publications. I’m late getting to Cliff’s November 8 column “Hamas vs. Western Civ” (at FDD, where it is posted with links). Cliff has kindly given us his permission to post his column on
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September 13, 2023 — Lloyd Billingsley
Back around Labor Day, the Canadian government advised that 2SLGBTQI+ persons “could face certain barriers and risks when you travel outside Canada,” because “not all countries have the same values and legal system that we have in Canada.” That is indeed true, in ways that travelers might not imagine. LGBTQ are, respectively, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer. “I” means “intersex” and + is “inclusive of people who identify as
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July 23, 2023 — John Hinderaker
You probably know about the controversy surrounding country singer Jason Aldean and his song “Try That In a Small Town.” I wrote about it here. Liberals attacked the song for being, among other things, “pro-lynching,” which of course is demented. But they succeeded in getting the song’s video banned by Country Music Television. Aldean, happily, is unapologetic. On Friday night he performed a concert in Cincinnati and addressed the attacks
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July 21, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Move over Snow White and the Seven Magical Creatures! As the Left continues to alienate themselves from traditional American values with woke new versions of classic fairy tales and children’s stories, conservatives have quietly begun building a parallel economy. The boldest arrival into this space is American Heartland Theme Park, an affiliate of Mansion Entertainment Group, LLC. The company has announced plans to create a $2 billion, 1,000 acre entertainment
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June 19, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The Axios graphic below depicts the stock price of Target, Anheuser-Busch, and Kohl’s over the period April 3 to June 14. The top line represents the S&P 500. Axios computes the total loss in value of the three stocks at $28 billion. Axios attributes the loss to “right-wing backlash” on “social issues.” I take it that Axios supports the trans madness. At Issues & Insights, Terry Jones reports on the
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June 4, 2023 — John Hinderaker
For reasons I can’t explain, the Left, including the Democratic Party, has made sex change operations on minors its signature issue. It has become a litmus test: in order to be considered progressive, one must now advocate the mutilation of children’s genitals. If there is a Democratic Party politician who dissents from this orthodoxy, I am not aware of it. Sex change operations on minors are massively unpopular. Opponents of
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May 30, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Some readers may already be familiar with the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Magic Kingdom Park, the place “where fairy tales come true.” Parents can watch as their children are “royally transformed” into elegant princesses and shining knights – “right before [their] eyes.” Your child will be welcomed into the boutique by one of the shop’s “fairy godmother’s apprentices.” Over the weekend, one little girl was lucky enough to be received
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May 27, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
You may have thought you were observing Memorial Day this weekend – a day to honor and mourn the lives of Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. But rather than a day to reflect upon those who died for our freedom, the woke among us have perverted it into a “transgender day of remembrance.” In the video below, a young woman donning a clerical
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May 21, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
A group of boys at Lakeridge High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon, showed state lawmakers exactly what they thought of HB 3294, the “Menstrual Dignity Act,” legislation that passed in 2021. They pulled the newly installed feminine hygiene dispenser off the boys room wall and threw it in a toilet, precisely where the unnecessary and offensive device belonged. High school boys simply put the tampon dispenser in their bathroom EXACTLY
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May 2, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Apparently, every day is a battle for LGBTQ+ lawmakers. According to an Associated Press report, they “find themselves fighting just ‘to exist.'” The article begins on an emotional note: State Sen. Shevrin Jones can often be seen at the Florida Capitol greeting staff and colleagues with a smile or laugh, but when he’s alone it’s a different story. “The outward expression is to show God’s love. That’s what I was
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April 27, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
In collaboration with the National Down Syndrome Society, toy manufacturing company Mattel added a Down Syndrome Barbie to their product line on Tuesday. Typically, I turn off when I hear the word “inclusion,” but in this case, I think Mattel has done a very caring and lovely thing. Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Associated Press reported that Down syndrome “is the most common chromosomal
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April 22, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Ad Age reports there’s been a shakeup among leadership in the marketing department at Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch, the brand’s parent company, has confirmed that Alissa Heinerscheid, the woman behind the disastrous decision to partner with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in their latest marketing campaign, has taken a leave of absence and “will be replaced by Todd Allen, who was most recently global marketing VP for Budweiser.” In a statement first
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April 12, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
The New York Post reviewed the police report of an incident that occurred at a Blue Ash, Ohio, Target store in October. Upon hearing that her bill totaled over $1,000, customer Karen Ivery became irate and demanded that it be paid by reparations. Ivery became so aggressive during her encounter with the manager, the store’s loss prevention officer, Zach Cotter, was forced to intervene. The confrontation ended when Cotter punched Ivery
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March 30, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
One New Year’s Eve in the 1990s, I was seated on a train out of Manhattan when a huge man dressed as a woman took the facing seat directly across from me. Although he had caused quite a stir as he moved through the car, he seemed oblivious to the eye rolls from my fellow passengers. With his bare midriff, I remember thinking he must be cold given the freezing temperatures
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March 27, 2023 — Steven Hayward
Whenever there is a mass shooting it is usually wise to wait until full details are available, as early reports are often wrong or incomplete. I did think it odd this morning that the mass shooter at the Christian school in Nashville was reported to be a female, as female mass shooters are extremely rare—only four in U.S. history according to one report I’ve seen. Then it was reported that
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