The Top 5 Plus (May 30)

 1) “Under The New Global Religion of Tolerance, The Truth Must Never Trump ‘Unity’” (David Bowen, Harbinger’s Daily)

From the article -- We are living in an age where tolerance has become the supreme virtue of modern society. Governments promote it. Corporations market it. Schools teach it. Media platforms enforce it. Religious leaders increasingly preach it. At first glance, tolerance sounds noble. Christians are called to love people, show compassion, and treat others with dignity. But the modern definition of tolerance has evolved far beyond kindness or coexistence.

Today’s version of tolerance demands something far deeper. Not merely accepting people… but affirming every belief system, lifestyle, ideology, and moral framework as equally valid.

The moment someone declares that absolute truth exists, they are increasingly viewed as dangerous, divisive, hateful, or extreme. This is why the coming global culture is not merely political or social, it is spiritual. A new worldwide belief system is emerging, and its central doctrine is this: truth must never offend.

Today, tolerance demands affirmation, and anyone who refuses to affirm the spirit of the age is viewed as dangerous.

2) “Decline Is a Choice, and Democrats Are Making It” (David Strom, Hot Air)

From the article -- It used to be uncontroversial to believe that the law-abiding had a right to be protected from criminals and that criminals needed to be punished. Putting them in jail served a double purpose: removing the criminals from society, rendering them harmless to the public when they were incarcerated, and imposing high costs on behavior that harms others and society. 

It also used to be uncontroversial to assume that a criminal who attacks a person deserves whatever he gets, including a bullet in the front or back. Break into a house, and your life is forfeit. It only makes sense because, as John Locke, whose ideas dominate the US Constitution, argued, the criminal assaulting you has declared a state of war between you and him. 

Now, in many states, you have a duty to retreat, and criminals in many places can nearly kill somebody and get probation, and even the most modest sob story can get a judge or liberal prosecutor crying for your troubles. 

It often seems that liberals actively want criminals to roam the streets, and perhaps they do. Leftists, who love anarcho-tyranny certainly do, but most liberals seem more driven by sympathy or empathy for predators than actual malice toward society. 

3) “Good Riddance, Marty: He did nothing to stop the unimpeded trade of abortion pills. And he was proud of it.” (Ellie Gardey Holmes, American Spectator)

From the article -- On Tuesday, the news finally came: Marty Makary is out as FDA commissioner, and not a moment too soon. Makary failed as FDA commissioner because he bestowed zero concern for the most pressing issue before him: the unrestricted proliferation of abortion pills. This is causing unborn babies to be killed en masse, in greater numbers than ever before in American history. 

Last year, Makary damningly told the Wall Street Journal, “I don’t think about the abortion pill.” He added that he doesn’t think about the safety restrictions surrounding the pill, either. 

This is for a drug that has an 11 percent serious adverse event rate for women — including sepsis, infection, and hemorrhaging — according to a study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center released last year.

Makary promised a study reviewing the drug’s dangers while at the same time slow-walking the study to the maximum extent possible. This went so far that Makary insisted on waiting to do the study until a new drug safety data system, Sentinel 3.0, became available, but the system isn’t supposed to be out until late 2026 or early 2027. This amounted to punting the issue of the abortion pill to the next White House administration — enabling the maximum amount of babies to be killed and women to be endangered in the meantime. In addition, last fall, Makary approved a new generic version of mifepristone, flooding the market even more with the drug.

Related article: “Study: 64 Online Abortion Pill Vendors Ignore 10-Week Gestational Limit” (Dan Hart, Washington Stand)

4) “Students’ Learning Hit Record Lows Despite 749% Spending Increase for Dept. of Ed” (Mark Tapscott, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Skyrocketing federal spending on the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and the record low poor student achievement levels provide yet another Washington illustration of the truth of the maxim that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result.”

A deep-dive data analysis by non-profit government watchdog Open The Books (OTB) — modestly entitled “PROGRESS REPORT: Cutting Waste, Ridding Radicalism, and Returning Education to the States” — exposes the 749% increase in federal tax dollars devoted to DOE since 2000, and the fact that, despite record expenditures, 34% of the class of 2024 graduating seniors can only read at basic or below proficiency and 45% of them are at or below basic proficiency in math.

When it was created by Congress at the behest of President Jimmy Carter in 1979, DOE advocates promised the result would be a reduction in federal education grant-making, motivation for parents to become significantly more involved in their children’s academic progress, encouragement of more research on innovative teaching and learning approaches, and high-level educational achievement more widely available for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

What has resulted is virtually the exact opposite of what was promised on every count. 

5) “Why Any Deal with Iran Is a Mistake” (Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute)

From the article -- Significantly, the response from the Arab and Muslim world to Trump's latest demand [to join the Abraham Accords] has been largely unenthusiastic. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have shown no public eagerness to comply, while Pakistan flatly rejected the idea. This silence and rejection underscore a larger reality: meaningful peace agreements cannot be manufactured for public relations purposes or used to obscure strategic failures elsewhere.

Worse, many of the supposedly neutral Middle Eastern countries "facilitating" the deal -- Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- have well-worn records of not being even slightly neutral.

Expanding peace agreements between Israel and Arab and Muslim countries is unquestionably a positive goal. Peace and normalization are in the interests of Arabs and Muslims no less than Israelis. The Abraham Accords demonstrated that cooperation with Israel promotes regional stability, security, economic growth, and technological advancement. Genuine peace, however, may not be able to be imposed through pressure or threats. Peace made at gunpoint rarely lasts. Arabs and Muslims might choose peace with Israel because they recognize that coexistence and regional cooperation serve their own national interests, not because they are being publicly pressured by the US president.

Articles related to Iran, Israel, and Anti-Semitism: “‘The ‘Muslim Catholic’ Who Invented the Christian-Muslim Relationship: The origins of the dangerous myth of ‘Abrahamic Religions’”. (Daniel Greenfield, Trajectories)...“The U.N. vs. Israel: Meet the radicals running the U.N. and Israel’s surprisingly most popular politician.” (Amit Segal, It’s Noon In Israel)...“Spare Us the Selective Outrage: Israel is condemned for surviving a massacre while regimes guilty of actual ethnic cleansing and mass slaughter escape outrage and scrutiny.” (Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness)...“Sharia’s Growing Influence on U.S. Finance” (Paul Sperry, Real Clear Investigations)...“New Jersey Muslim Leader Boasts of Using Carlson, Owens, Bannon to Divide MAGA Movement: A video is circulating that every American - including President Trump - should watch, watch again, and study.” (Robert Spencer, From Page Magazine)

Other Excellent Articles from the Week

(And, yipes! This week the extra 5 became 10.)

* “Dressed to Kill: Women of the Left and the Cult of Violence Worship: The left’s glamorization of political violence begins as performance, but history shows how quickly chic nihilism can become something far darker.” (Jeff Cunningham, American Greatness)

* “The Crisis Behind America’s Mental Health Crisis: RFK Jr. wants to curb psychiatric overprescribing, but decades of insurance incentives and institutional decay created the problem.” (Carole Lieberman, American Spectator)

* “Spain Without Spaniards: The Unprecedented Decline of the National Population” (Antonio O’Mullony, The European Conservative)

* “$4.5 million from Minnesota taxpayers going to once-convicted murderer: the troubling backstory” (David Zimmer, American Experiment)

* “You Will Share Your Locker Room With Predators...Or Else” (David Strom, Hot Air)

* “This Midterm Season, the American Dream is on the Line (America is staring down a demographic and fiscal abyss that threatens to devour the American Dream for working families, retirees, and the next generation.)” (Joseph Ford Cotto, American Thinker)

* “Yes, Britain today is governed by idiots, but that is not the sole reason it is in trouble” (Kevin Myers, Brussels Signal)

* “Baseball Fans Erupt over Washington Nationals’ Treatment of Christian Players” (Suzanne Bowdey, Washington Stand)

* “If 1 In 5 Fairfax Residents Is Illegal, We Need Mass Deportations In Virginia Immediately” (Samuel Kimzey, Federalist)

* “The Vatican Enters the AI War: Why Christians Should Pay Attention” (Robert Maginnis, Washington Stand)

The Top 5 Plus (May 23)

1) “America at 250: Museum or Nation?” (James Thorne, Real Clear Politics)

From the article -- As Oswald Spengler warned, civilizations decay when faith gives way to technique, politics becomes administration, and ruling classes lose the will to defend what made their civilization worth inheriting. The European Union offers the modern template: technocracy without vigor, regulation without purpose, procedure without renewal. It manages decline; it cannot reverse it.

The United States has been moving in that direction for years: deindustrialization, porous borders, elite detachment, strategic drift, and a governing class more comfortable managing national weakening than confronting it. Donald Trump recognized that decay earlier than most – and said plainly that it was a choice. A nation cannot endure if it exports its industry, dilutes its sovereignty, and mistakes energy dependence for moral progress.

Yet America retains a resource Spengler underestimated: the American jeremiad. A tradition that treats national failure not as proof the country is a fraud, but as evidence it has betrayed a real promise, and must recover it. Trump speaks that language. His deepest offense to the caretakers of decline is simple: He refuses to treat “a more perfect Union” as a museum piece. He treats it as a mandate.

That is why the coming midterms matter. They are not an intermission between presidential contests; they are a referendum on whether reversal continues or authority returns to the managers of exhaustion. The choice is stark: Retire “a more perfect Union” to the glass case, or act as if we still intend to build it..” 

2) “Despite The Troubling Rise Of Jew-hatred, The News Media Is Not Reining In Its Propaganda. They’re Doubling Down.” (Breanna Claussen, Harbinger’s Daily)

From the article -- The Jewish people in the United States and across the globe no longer feel safe leaving their homes wearing anything overtly Jewish—and the media has played no small role in crafting this hostility through the vicious demonization of the Jewish State and the promotion of anti-Jewish blood libels. Despite the troubling rise of Jew-hatred in our culture, the news media is not reining in its propaganda—they’re doubling down.

Just last week, the Israeli foreign ministry reacted to a disturbing article published by the New York Times, calling it “one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press.” The column accused Israel of ferocious sexual violence against Palestinians, including a warped claim that the Israeli guards had trained dogs to violate arab prisoners. One particularly egregious quote from the article insisted: “The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on Oct. 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day.”

Israel responded to the fabricated accusation harshly, “In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, [New York Times] propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused. Israel – whose citizens were the victims of the most horrific sexual crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, and whose hostages were later subjected to further sexual abuse – is portrayed as the guilty party. This publication is no coincidence. It is part of a false and well-orchestrated anti-Israel campaign.”

Related articles: “EU Sanctions Israel, Welcomes Taliban” (Daniel Greenfield, Trajectories)...“Is Europe Ending Up as One Big No-Go Zone?” (Robert Williams, Gatestone Institute)...“Why do we accept this Muslim assault on our faith?” (Gillian Dymond, TCW)

3) “Justice Thomas: Courage in Defense of Natural Law Constitutionalism” (John C. Eastman, American Mind)

From the article -- Justice Clarence Thomas’s recent speech at the University of Texas was vintage Thomas: deeply reflective, historically grounded, and unapologetically devoted to first principles. At a moment when many public officials seek safety in ambiguity, Thomas instead offered moral clarity. He spoke not merely as a jurist, but as a statesman concerned with the long-term health of the American republic. In doing so, he echoed themes long championed by scholars associated with the Claremont Institute: the primacy of natural rights, the centrality of the Declaration of Independence, and the necessity of civic courage in preserving constitutional government.

Thomas’s remarks were particularly striking because they resisted the fashionable reduction of constitutional interpretation to technocratic expertise or evolving social consensus. Instead, he returned repeatedly to the enduring truths that undergird the American experiment. The Constitution, in Thomas’s telling, is not simply a procedural document or a malleable framework for administrative governance. It is the institutional embodiment of a moral and political philosophy rooted in the self-evident truths proclaimed in 1776.

4) “America: The Real Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness)

From the article -- One American view of China—now increasingly popular on the Left and the Right alike, especially among the hate-Trump crowd—is that the communist colossus will be forever ascendant, with continued astonishing levels of food production, ship construction, and industrial output. In this pessimistic view, China will soon replace America as the world’s predominant power. We are, supposedly, like an exhausted British Empire circa 1945, and China is the new version of the postwar American powerhouse.

Yet even Beijing’s miraculous 30-year leap out of poverty into first-world affluence and Westernized power is hardly the same as parity with the US. In truth, Trump held almost all the cards at the current summit and will do so again when Xi Jinping visits the US this autumn. According to nearly every historical measure of power, the US leads China by sizable margins—in wealth, economic output, fuel, food, and military strength.

China has roughly four times the population of the US, but produces only about 60 percent of our total GDP. A crude way of looking at this asymmetry is that one US citizen accounts for 40 percent more goods and services than his four Chinese counterparts. Americans enjoy a per capita GDP (roughly $95,000) over six times higher than China’s (roughly $15,000).

Related article: “Sitting by the river: China is not a competitor, it is a predator” (Konstantinos Bogdanos, Brussels Signal)

5) “The AI Elite Are Getting Rich While the Rest of Us Get Angry -- and Afraid” (Robert Maginnis, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Consider two snapshots of America in 2026. Sam Altman — CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT — holds a personal fortune estimated at $3.3 billion, a 21-acre Hawaii estate listed at $49 million, a $27 million San Francisco mansion, and a 950-acre Napa Valley ranch. His company recently raised $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation. Standing before BlackRock’s U.S. Infrastructure Summit, Altman declared that intelligence is now “a utility, like electricity or water” — and that people will buy it from his company on a meter.

Now consider a different American. In a BuzzFeed account published last October, one of hundreds of workers described the fallout in eleven words that say more than any policy brief could: “They automated my job for less than $1,000 a year. Now, I bartend and drive school buses to make ends meet.”

That gap — between the man pricing intelligence like a utility from his Napa ranch and the man driving a school bus to pay rent — is not an accident of the market. It is a design feature of an industry that has accumulated staggering wealth while offloading its consequences onto Americans who had no seat at the table when the decisions were made. The backlash building across this country should surprise no one.

Other Excellent Articles:

* “More Voter Fraud Charges Scream For The Senate To Pass The SAVE America Act” (M.D. Kittle, Federalist)

* “Nebraska Just Took a Sledgehammer to the ESG Machine Behind Corporate America” (Ben Smith, Red State)

* "Would New Jersey Bill Authorize Slow-Motion Euthanasia of Dementia Patients?" (Wesley J. Smith, National Review)

* “Cuba Falling: Today Is 'the Beginning of the End' and Rubio's Powerful Message” (Sarah Anderson, Red State)

* “Why Young Women Fear Men: How Gen Z Women Developed an Alarmingly Jaundiced View of the Opposite Sex” (Georgina Mumford, spiked!)

What's A.I. Saying About Vital Signs Ministries?

After a conversation with a friend lately about the increasing presence and influence of A.I. on all aspects of our lives, we decided to try a couple of experiments. We thought you might find the results of interest also.

Here’s the deal -- we asked an A.I. program to “tell us about” 1) Vital Signs Ministries, 2) “When Swing Was King,” 3) my novel “The Christmas Room,” and finally 4) Vital Signs Blog. Here were the answers...

Vital Signs Ministries

Vital Signs Ministries is a Christian nonprofit organization based in Omaha, Nebraska, founded in 1982 by Denny and Claire Hartford. The ministry describes itself as “Christian activists in the service of ‘the least of these’” and operates with a core commitment to a comprehensive sanctity of life ethic. 

Here are the key aspects of their work:

Mission Focus: Their primary goals include preaching the gospel, making disciples, and serving others through education, direct action, intercession, advocacy, and fellowship. They are particularly known for their pro-life stance and efforts to promote a culture of life. 

Key Programs: Pregnancy Counseling: They established the AAA Center for Pregnancy Counseling to support women and families.

Sidewalk Counseling: They engage in prayerful, peaceful, and winsome sidewalk counseling at abortion facilities. 

Senior Outreach: They run the popular “When Swing Was King” ministry, which provides entertainment and companionship in senior care facilities. They also conduct Sunday services at local senior living communities like Aksarben Village. 

Media & Education: The ministry has produced radio broadcasts (“Vital Signs” and “Vital Signs Weekend”), maintains an active blog and social media presence, and hosts book discussions and film showings. Also, founders Denny and Claire Hartford have conducted thousands of speaking engagements across the U.S. and internationally. The organization remains active in 2026 continuing its long-standing work in Omaha and beyond through various outreach and educational initiatives.

“When Swing Was King”

“When Swing Was King” is a ministry program by Vital Signs Ministries designed to bring joy, memory stimulation, and social connection to seniors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The program features a live presentation that combines big band music from the 1930s and 40s (featuring artists like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and Frank Sinatra) with a slideshow of 240–265 era-specific photographs depicting fashion, cars, military life, and daily life from that time.

Hosted by founders Denny and Claire Hartford, the show includes a DJ-style commentary that adds humor and historical context, followed by personal visits with residents to foster friendship. While primarily an entertainment outreach intended to combat boredom and lift spirits, it also serves as a winsome witness for the Christian faith, often opening doors for spiritual conversations and prayer. The program began in July 2010 as a single event for Denny’s mother but has grown to serve multiple facilities monthly.

“The Christmas Room”

Denny Hartford’s novel “The Christmas Room” is an inspirational Christian fiction story set within the walls of a nursing home, focusing on themes of faith, dignity, aging, and the enduring spirit of the elderly.

Plot Summary -- The story begins with Grace Trinisi, a woman in the ICU who is unaware that Christmas has passed. Her son, Tony, fulfills her wish to see a Christmas tree in her room, creating a small sanctuary of holiday cheer that becomes known as “The Christmas Room.” This space not only comforts Grace but also inspires the hospital staff. Grace survives her illness but is diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia, leading her son to move her to Villa Vista Care Community, an innovative nursing home. The Christmas Room travels with her, becoming a central, year-round fixture of the facility under the guidance of the visionary director, Carolyn Kovacs.

The narrative weaves together the lives of various residents and staff, exploring their struggles and triumphs. Key characters include: Clark Gritzner, the difficult son of a resident whose actions create a medical emergency for his wife, Mattie, and who hides a personal crisis; Carolyn Kovacs, the dedicated director who manages the facility's daily challenges, from lawsuits to expansion plans; Rita Costello: a nurse aide whose compassion leads to professional growth; and Ralph Yarborough, an elderly custodian whose heroic actions in a restaurant change the facility’s future.

The plot balances the day-to-day realities of long-term care with a mystery involving Clark Gritzner and a broader message about the value of every human life, regardless of age or ability 

Reception and Reviews -- The book has received a 4.4 out of 5-star rating on Amazon based on reader reviews. Readers and reviewers consistently praise the novel for its realistic and empathetic portrayal of nursing home life.

Emotional Impact: Many reviewers describe the book as “uplifting,” “heartwarming,” and “full of love.” It is noted for bringing tears and joy, resonating deeply with those who have cared for aging parents or worked in healthcare 

Educational Value: Several readers, including those working in senior care or studying for Clinical Pastoral Education, highlight the book’s ability to provide insight into the “blood, sweat, tears, and joy” of nursing homes. It is often recommended for training staff or helping families understand the aging process 

Spiritual Depth: As a work of Christian fiction, the story is praised for its exploration of faith, forgiveness, and the healing power of love. One reviewer noted it felt like “a bit of heaven in this cursed world.” 

Realism: While the setting is idealized, reviewers appreciate that it does not shy away from difficult topics like dementia, abuse, and family conflict, ultimately showing the potential for nursing homes to be places of dignity and community. One reviewer, a pastor, mentioned that while they initially wanted to deduct a star for the idealized nature of the facility, they awarded five stars because the book shows what nursing homes “can and should be.”

Vital Signs Blog

The Vital Signs Blog is the commentary platform for Vital Signs Ministries, a non-profit Christian organization based in Omaha, Nebraska. The blog is primarily written and curated by Denny Hartford, who co-founded the ministry with his wife, Claire, in 1982.

The blog and its content center around several core pillars:

1. Cultural and Political Commentary

Hartford writes extensively from a traditional Christian, conservative, and pro-life worldview. He frequently provides commentary on current events, local and national politics, and what he describes as the “culture wars.” This includes curating consistent roundups like “The Top 5 Plus,” where he highlights and critiques media articles on topics ranging from religious freedom to societal trends and geopolitics.

2. Pro-Life Advocacy

A major focus of both the ministry and the blog is anti-abortion advocacy. Hartford uses the blog to share insights on pro-life theology (such as analyzing biblical texts regarding the preborn), promote local activist events, and discuss political initiatives, particularly within Nebraska.

3. Literature and the Arts

Beyond politics and theology, Hartford frequently shares his personal reflections on classic literature, films, and history (he holds a master’s degree in history). He has a deep affinity for classic authors like Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, and G.K. Chesterton, often drawing moral or spiritual applications from their works. He also runs a closely related secondary blog called The Book Den, which is dedicated more strictly to literature and popular culture reviews.

4. Ministry Updates and Community Engagement

The blog serves as a ledger for the ministry’s practical outreach programs. This includes updates on their “When Swing Was King” program (a multimedia big band music show they present at senior living communities and nursing homes) and their regular “letter-writing parties” aimed at advocacy and encouragement.

You can read his updates and commentary directly through The Blog - Vital Signs Ministries or follow his personal, ongoing posts at the standalone Vital Signs Blogspot.

The Top 5 Plus (May 16)

1) “Beyond the Precipice: Whether in the horrors of October 7 or the full-fledged US-Israeli alliance against Iran, I know of no modern precedents. The Jewish people stand at a hinge of history.” (Michael Oren, Substack)

From the article -- Thinly disguised as anti-Zionism, Jew hatred has been normalized in America. Elsewhere -- in Canada, Australia, and Europe -- it has metastasized. Young generations throughout the West, fed by an endless stream of anti-Israel posts, now view us as the source of all evil in the Middle East, if not the world.

In the not-too-distant future, we must assume, few foreign leaders will actively block efforts to boycott and sanction Israel or veto anti-Israel resolutions in the UN Security Council. As never before, Israel will be diplomatically and legally isolated.

The situation might be less alarming if accompanied by a reduction in the physical threats facing Israel. But, on the contrary, enemies both on our borders and throughout the Middle East continue to seek our destruction. Barring a decisive victory over Iran, the military dangers facing Israel are liable to persist if not multiply.

Confronted with these enormous challenges, the Jewish State must not remain passive. In Israel, traditionally, foreign policy has always been regarded as the poor stepchild of security. Washington hosts dozens of foreign policy institutes. In Israel, by contrast, virtually all the think-tanks focus on the military. We must cease viewing foreign affairs as a sideline, but rather regard it as a paramount component of our national defense. We must cease assigning vital diplomatic and foreign policy posts to political appointees bereft of serious international experience.

Israel and Anti-Semitism Related articles: “The Intifada Comes to Brooklyn Under New York’s Socialist Mayor” (Jarrett Stepman, Daily Signal)...“The Four Horsemen of the New Antisemitism: Demographic change, DEI ideology, anti-Israel radicalism, and political cowardice have mainstreamed hostility toward Jews.” (American Greatness) Victor Davis Hanson...“Nicholas Kristof’s IDF ‘Rape-Dogs’ Accusation Adds to the Bizarre List of Israel Weaponizing Wildlife” (Brad Slager, Red State)

2) “China: Our Enemy, Not Our Rival” (Ben Shapiro, Jewish World Review)

From the article -- China is not merely America's geopolitical opponent. It is America's geopolitical enemy -- and has been since the establishment of the Chinese communist regime in 1949. For decades, American leaders and elites indulged the fantasy that this reality could be softened or reversed. Richard Nixon opened relations with China in part to split Beijing from the Soviet Union. Later, economic globalists insisted that bringing China into global markets would moderate its politics. The theory was that free trade would lead to freer people.

It didn't.

China never stopped being what it has always been: a communist surveillance state with an appetite for repression at home and influence abroad. It is a historically mass-murdering regime and a government whose ambition is nothing less than the destruction of America's global dominance.

And China plays the long game.

China-related articles: “Who Really Needs Whom? Trump, Xi Jinping, and the Illusion of Chinese Strength: China projects strength abroad, but internal purge politics, economic strain, and structural dependence suggest a far more fragile system than it appears.” (Sasha Gong, American Greatness)...“Strange Trip: The U.S. war against Iran hasn’t ushered in American decline. It’s exposed China’s weakness.” (Lee Smith, Tablet)...“Defending Taiwan” (Mike Watson, Law & Liberty)...“Trump and Xi Are Meeting about AI -- Christians Should Pay Attention” (Robert Maginnis, Washington Stand)

3) “Habits for Americans in an Age of Disruption: Remarks at Manhattan Institute’s Hamilton Award Dinner, May 6, 2006” (Ben Sasse, City Journal)

From the article -- I’m on the clock tonight in more ways than one, so I want to make every minute count. I think the problems that we face collectively are problems of habits, love, and community, not chiefly of policy. So I’d like to spend our time together tonight thinking about families and especially about younger parents. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, and all those of us who’ve earned the titles of aunts and uncles to our friends’ kids have a role to play in this, of course, but my thoughts at this moment in America are aimed primarily at parents: the blurry eyed, overcaffeinated, ever-doubtful moms and dads who know the truth of the aphorism, “the days are long and the years are short,” who are in the business of raising souls and raising citizens. As Americans, our experiment in self-government and our pioneering spirit has always depended on wisdom and self-control. And these are not exactly the things that policy or Washington is known for and certainly not the things that politicians or bureaucrats could ever impart. Also, these are not exactly the things and the virtues that are fostered by technology’s illusion of endless consumption, infinite optionality, and cost-free disembodiment.

No, the virtues for a life well lived are taught, modeled, and practiced in the daily life of society’s smallest but most important platoons, the republic’s thickest yet pre-political institutions, chief among them the family. So I want to start with a big prediction and it is this. In the coming decades, if AI continues to progress as it has, America is going to have a big, messy debate about UBI, universal basic income. And in its long-term implications, this debate is going to dwarf the fights we had more than a decade ago about Obamacare and even the debates we’ve had about the Great Society and the New Deal.

To be perfectly blunt, it’s unlikely that I’m going to be around for this debate, but for the record, I am strongly against UBI. I think it’s terrible policy. But either way, whether we end up with UBI or we don’t, whether we end at the sunny uplands of abundance or the hellscape of an actual jobs apocalypse, Americans are going to need better habits than we have right now to help our people, our citizens, and our republic thrive. Because virtue has always been at the heart of what it takes to keep a republic.

4) “FDA Commissioner Resigns after Slow Admin. Progress on Abortion Pill Review” (Joshua Arnold, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Without an in-person appointment, physicians cannot verify the unborn child’s gestational age or rule out an ectopic pregnancy, two conditions that can threaten the life of a woman who takes the abortion pill, to say nothing of the life of the child. The lax oversight has also enabled abusive boyfriends and traffickers to coerce women into abortions against their will.

In October 2025, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) lambasted the FDA’s “shocking” approval of “ANOTHER chemical abortion drug, when the evidence shows chemical abortion drugs are dangerous and even deadly for the mother. And of course 100% lethal to the child.”

In February 2026, Republican senators received a private briefing from Makary, only to leave more convinced than ever “that this safety study is a dead end,” as Hawley put it. “I just think that [the] FDA is not serious about it. I don’t think that they’re proceeding with any sense of urgency whatsoever.”

When news of Makary’s resignation broke, Hawley called the news “welcome,” declaring that “Dr. Makary was uniquely destructive to the prolife movement. He attempted to place pro-abortion lawyers in key positions. He slow- walked a vitally necessary review of the abortion drug mifepristone. He used his discretion to approve a new abortion drug when the data shows it sends one in 10 women to the emergency room. He froze out prolife leaders and repeatedly stonewalled Congress.”

5) “Great Nations Aren’t Destroyed by Enemies. They’re Destroyed by Debt.: The greatest threat to American power may not come from Beijing or Tehran, but from Treasury auctions.” (Douglas Carswell, American Spectator)

From the article -- For the past 25 years (ever since Bill Clinton left the White House) Washington has spent more than it has taken in. Every single year. The national debt now stands at $39 trillion. In 2001, the United States owed less than $6 trillion. Today, we owe nearly $39 trillion. The federal debt has grown by $33 trillion in just 25 years. 

Here is the worrying part. In the entire 212 years from George Washington’s first inauguration through Bill Clinton’s last day in office -- through the Civil War, the Great Depression, two World Wars, and the Cold War -- the United States accumulated $5.8 trillion in debt. In the 25 years since, we have added $33 trillion more. More than four-fifths of the total debt the country carries today has been borrowed in the past quarter-century...

The pace is accelerating. Of that $39 trillion, $2.7 trillion was added in the past year alone. Ten trillion (more than 27 percent of every dollar America has ever borrowed) has been piled on in just the past five years. The federal government now adds roughly $8 billion in new debt every single day. When the cost of servicing old debts crowds out the essential investments that sustain national strength, decline becomes almost inevitable.

Great nations are rarely destroyed by external enemies. They are more often destroyed by debt. The historian Niall Ferguson has warned that when the cost of servicing old debts crowds out the essential investments that sustain national strength — especially defense — decline becomes almost inevitable. History is littered with cautionary tales. Habsburg Spain. Bourbon France. The Ottoman Empire. Each was once the greatest power on earth. Each was overstretched by debt.

Ferguson identifies a critical threshold beyond which a great power cannot long survive: the moment a nation spends more on debt interest than on defense. At that point, fiscal arithmetic begins to dismantle geopolitical power. The United States is now flirting with that threshold.

Other Excellent Reads from the Week:

* “Oh No, Canada!: How assisted dying became the easy answer in Canadian healthcare.” (Richard D. Kocur, American Spectator)

* “Biblical Insight: No Matter The Iran War’s Outsome, It Will Not Result In A Lasting Peace” (Robert Gottselig, Harbinger’s Daily)

* “How Social Media Created A Lost Generation Of Girls” (Auguste Meyrat, Federalist)

* “JFK’s revenge: On American attempts to overthrow Cuba’s Communist regime.” (James Piereson, New Criterion)

* “John ‘Failure Is Not An Option’ Thune Just Failed Election Integrity: Let’s face it, the debate show on the SAVE America Act was the plan all along. And Thune was the star of the ‘deliberative’ farce.” (M.D. Kittle, Federalist)

Dr. Jefferson Wouldn't "Just Stand Aside"

From the late Dr. Mildred Jefferson, a highly acclaimed surgeon at Boston University, the first African-American woman to earn a degree from Harvard Medical School, and a co-founder of National Right to Life.

“Many people try to hide behind the confusion of not knowing what happens before a baby is born. But we do not have to be confused. We in medicine and science have a different name for every stage of the development of the baby, but it does not matter at all whether you know those names or not. When a young woman has not had much opportunity to go to school and she becomes pregnant, no one has to tell her that she is going to have a baby.

“I became a doctor in the tradition that is represented in the Bible of looking upon medicine as a high calling. I will not stand aside and have this great profession of mine, of the doctor, give up the designation of healer to become that of the social executioner. The Supreme Court Justices only had to hand down an order. Social workers only have to make arrangements, but it has been given to my profession to destroy the life of the innocent and the helpless.

“Today it is the unborn child; tomorrow it is likely to be the elderly or those who are incurably ill. Who knows but that a little later it may be anyone who has political or moral views that do not fit into the distorted new order? To that question, ‘Am I my brother's keeper?’ I answer ‘Yes.’ It is everyone's responsibility to safeguard and preserve life. A child is a member of the human family and deserves care and concern.”

The Top 5 Plus (May 9)

1) “5 Insights from Ben Sasse as He Faces His Last Days on Earth” (Kathy Athearn, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Fifty-four-year-old former Nebraska senator, husband, and father of three, Ben Sasse, was tragically diagnosed only six months ago with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and told he had three to four months to live. While the clinical trial that his doctors put him on has given him more time on earth than doctors predicted, the cancer has sadly continued to spread to his liver, lymph nodes, lung, and vascular system.

Each day that he lives is a miracle. Knowing this has caused Sasse to focus on what is truly important, and he has graciously shared his wisdom in several interviews recently. The following are five insights that we would all be wise to listen to and reflect upon.

2) “It’s Time to Abolish Public Schools: Public schools survive what no business could: monopoly protection, union entrenchment, and taxpayer bailouts -- proof that education works best when government gets out of the way.” (Larry Sand, American Greatness)

From the article -- In the 1830s, education reformer Horace Mann viewed public schools as a “crucible of democracy.” He sought to have the state take over schools and raise taxes to fund them. Mann even predicted that if public schooling were widely adopted and given enough time to take effect, “nine-tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete,” and “the long catalog of human ills would be abridged.”

Clearly, Mann was dead wrong. Almost 200 years later, our nation, with its massive education bureaucracy, is more divided than ever, crime rates are high, and we have more “human ills” than we can handle. And taxpayers fork over about a trillion dollars a year in the process.

While Mann’s utopian goals obviously didn’t come to fruition, they did create a link in people’s minds between the “institution of public schooling and the ideals of public education” that, sadly, still exists today.

But the status quo is simply unacceptable.

Related articles: “Would You Leave Your Child There? One School District’s Answer Should Alarm Every Parent in America” (Julio Rivera, American Greatness)...”Declining Birthrates, Immigration Drive Enrollment Crisis in US Public Schools (AG News Staff)...“May Day Madness with the Chicago Teachers Union: Before students can engage in civic action, they must first learn to read and write.” (Aidan Grogan, City Journal)

3) “The Democratic Party Is Dead, Long Live the Jacobins! -- Today’s Democratic Party has abandoned its traditional working-class, patriotic roots and embraced a radical Jacobin ideology built on division, coercion, and political extremism.” (Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness)

From the article -- For the past century, the agendas of the Democratic Party were predictable. They professed concern for working Americans and supported blue-collar unions. Unemployment insurance, a 40-hour work week, disability insurance, and Social Security were their trademarks—often rapidly achieved by growing government bureaucracies and continually raising taxes. Still, many Democrats were socially conservative.

By the 1970s, Democrats still deplored antisemitism. Party officials had rejected their own segregationists to champion civil rights. Presidents like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John F. Kennedy all supported strong defense and military deterrence.

All that is now passé.

Related article: “Why So Many Political Pyromaniacs, Assassins, and Other Scary Types?: How moral certainty turns crimes into causes and culprits into symbols.” (Daniel J. Flynn, American Spectator)

4) “Islam’s Turbocharged Takeover of Europe” (Nils A. Haug, Gatestone Institute)

From the article -- Meanwhile, Iran and its jihadist proxies appear innocent of the Western "infidel" concepts of just wars, international laws, human rights or the Geneva conventions. They are mainly directed, it seems, by medieval Sharia law.

"Leadership in times of crisis," it has been said, "is not measured by the absence of risk, but by the willingness to accept it." In avoiding risk, the cowardly leaders of Western Europe – those sell-outs to an increasingly antagonistic extremist Muslim electorate upon whom they are increasingly dependent for political office -- are a disgrace to their nations. They are also a great disappointment to those who believe in the preservation of history's finest civilization – one with freedom, democracy, human rights, and an embedded Judeo-Christian moral foundation.

These leaders seemingly reject any obligation to oppose attempts to destroy their nations' traditional way of life. In the tradition of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who in 1938 imagined that he had a peace deal with Hitler, they have taken on a greater risk: that of appeasement.

European nations, it appears, have succumbed to Islamization. Their rapidly changing demographics reveal it; their failure to adequately protect their small Jewish communities against vociferous hate reveal it; their compromise on basic individual freedoms in their own countries reveal it, and their refusals to support the US, their erstwhile protector, reveal it.

Related articles dealing with the War with Ira, Radical Islam, Europe’s surrender to Islam, Anti-Semitism --- “Hamas is Humiliating Trump's ‘Board of Peace’” (Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute)...“Political Islam sees Europe as a territory to be claimed” (Konstantinos Bogdanos, Brussels Signal)...“An empire that cannot speak its name” (Ralph Schoellhammer, Brussels Signal)...“Antisemitism, Islam and the future of the GOP: The red-green alliance of Marxists and Islamists is fueling hatred for Jews and Israel among young people, while giving Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly a new audience.” (Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS)...“Why are liberals and Democrats embracing anti-Israel extremists?: Mainstream support for Senate candidates like Graham Platner and Abdul El-Sayed reflects both panic about Trump and the acceptance of antisemitism.” (Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS)...“How Intense Political Polarization Is Fanning The Flames Of Antisemitism (John Rodrigues, Harbinger’s Daily)

5) “When the Machine Decides: The Growing Threat of AI Agency” (Robert Maginnis, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Over the weekend of April 25-26, PocketOS founder Jer Crane confronted what every business owner fears — nothing. His company’s production database has vanished. Three months of customer reservations, payment records, and vehicle assignments gone in nine seconds, because an AI software assistant encountered a login error and decided on its own to fix the problem. The AI found a digital access key — essentially a master password — hidden in an unrelated file, connected to Railway, the cloud-hosting service where PocketOS stored its data, and issued a deletion command that wiped the database and every backup simultaneously, with no human being asked to approve a single step.

Most readers will not recognize PocketOS. The principle at stake touches every one of them.

What Crane experienced sits at the frontier of autonomous AI — software that no longer waits for human approval at each step but acts independently to complete tasks, make decisions, and execute commands in the real world. These systems already write news stories, conduct financial trades, screen job applicants, and assist military planners. Humans are increasingly supervisors of processes they cannot fully audit and, as Crane discovered, cannot always stop before the damage is done.

Related article: “It’s No Longer Just A Tool, AI Is Where The Self-Worship Epidemic Is Heading” (Greg Laurie, Harbinger’s Daily)

Other Excellent Reads from the Week

* “How Women Have Led to the Erasure of Women: Modern sexual and family norms have blurred the meaning of womanhood, weakening motherhood and accelerating a cultural shift that treats biology as optional.” (Jennifer Galardi, American Greatness) (Also see “Stop Telling Women They’ll Only Enjoy Motherhood When They Aren’t Watching Their Kids” (Abby Johnson, Federalist))

* “Price Gouging, Now Personalized Thanks to Surveillance Pricing and Collusion: Corporate greed isn’t just bad ethics -- it’s the fastest way to make socialism sound reasonable.” (Buck Throckmorton, American Spectator)

* “Is America an Idea? Not According to the Founding Fathers” (S.A. McCarthy, Washington Stand)

* “Neil Gorsuch Is Wrong, America Isn’t A ‘Creedal Nation’” (John Daniel Davidson, Federalist)

* “Bureaucrats Improperly Paid Out $186 Billion In Taxpayer Money In 2025: Will the public sector ever come to grips with the scale of the problem?” (Christopher Jacobs, Federalist)

If a Good Book Is a Good Friend..."

If a good book is a good friend -- and it is -- then why on God’s green earth would you not want to enrich your life by hanging out with good friends? I’m delighted to say this has been a priority in my life since I was little kid. Well, yes; there was a tragic period in my terribly misspent teen years where I departed from that lifestyle. But first with Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and then with Fyodor Dosteovsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, I see now how the Lord was using good books to draw me away from my intellectual and moral slide -- and towards the supernatural light and liberty He offered me through Calvary’s atoning sacrifice.  I began to read again. I began to think again. And I began to dream, aspire, and appreciate again. 

I thank the Lord for His rescue of my soul and my mind...and for continuing to bring the good gifts of good books my way. I thought of this the other morning when I mentioned to someone having had such delightful times the past couple of months in hanging out with old friends. “Really,” he asked. “What friends are you talking about?” I smiled and told him: C.S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Rafael Sabatini, and the writers of the Old Testament books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I and 2 Samuel. Very good friends, indeed.

Charles William Eliot once observed, “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” He was spot on. And I pray I will effectively live out that conviction until I’m allowed entry into the libraries of the New Jerusalem!