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!

The Top 5 Plus (May 2)

1) “Political Violence Is Cool Now: Why do so many elites support violent extremism?” (James B. Meigs, Free Expression WSJ)

From the article -- All the cool kids think killing people is OK now. Or at least understandable, as long as the killer has, like, a really good reason. Few of the people who talk this way want to pull the trigger themselves, thank God. But it gives them a kind of edgy thrill to talk about how violence in the service of a good cause might be necessary, even ennobling.

Some years ago, writer Rob Henderson coined the term “luxury belief” to describe fashionable opinions held by people who are insulated from the consequences of their views: for example, professors in safe college towns who advocate defunding the police. In a Free Expression article earlier this week Mr. Henderson noted that “glorifying ‘microlooting’ is a luxury belief because the people praising it aren’t the ones who pay for it.”

The people pursuing luxury beliefs are engaged in a kind of status competition. Who can épater la bourgeoisie with the boldest, most transgressive political statements? After Oct. 7, 2023, we saw this kind of status-jockeying on college campuses, where elite students vied to become the most fervent supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah. Keffiyeh scarves became de rigueur. Celebrating political murder is the next step on this progression. For most, it’s only talk. But there will always be a few who seek what they see as the ultimate status: actually carrying out a political attack.

Related articles: “From One Assassination Attempt to the Next: Mainstreaming Violence Against a President” (Victor Davis Hanson, American Greatness)...“The Young, Violent Political Left” (Michael Barone, Jewish World Review)...“Coddling Leftist Assassins” (Thom Nickels, Front Page Mag)...“Stoking Violence: The Assassination Culture In America Is Not A Problem Coming From ‘Both Sides Of The Aisle’ (Erick Stakelbeck, Harbinger’s Daily)...“Leftist Political Violence is an Existential Threat to the Republic (Josh Hammer, Front Page Mag)...“Party of Assassins: (The latest Trump assassin wasn’t a radical. He was a Democrat.” (Daniel Greenfield, Front Page Mag)

2) “The Pro-Life Movement Has An IVF Problem” (Nathanael Blake, Federalist)

From the article -- IVF is on the rise, and that’s a problem for the pro-life movement. The problem is that pro-lifers know that human life begins at conception, but the IVF industry intentionally destroys human embryos in vast quantities — yet IVF is very popular, including among those who describe themselves as pro-life. Even as the American birthrate plummets, more babies are being born through IVF, with the most recent release of data showing the number of IVF babies surpassing 100,00 in a single year.

This has established a pervasive dissonance. Many Christian churches proclaim from the pulpit that human embryos are fully human, but nonetheless seem untroubled when members, and even leaders, use IVF according to the industry-standard embryo-destroying protocols. They just prefer not to talk about the contradiction.

Thus, many people, not having thought about the issue much, do not realize that there is a conflict between the pro-life commitment to treating human embryos as human persons and what the IVF industry does. For instance, when President Trump unveiled his pro-IVF fertility policy, reporter Emily Jashinsky asked what his message was to those with “religious objections to IVF.” He replied, “I think this is very pro-life. … You can’t get more pro-life than this.” The apparent reasoning is simple: IVF helps people have babies and pro-lifers love babies. But the pro-life position is about protecting human life, not just helping people to have babies when they want them.

And protecting human life from conception is incompatible with how IVF is usually practiced. This is why IVF advocates are against recognizing human embryos as human persons. For example, Resolve (the National Infertility and Family Building Association) highlights the group’s opposition to laws that recognize that human life begins at conception.

3) “DOJ Report Reveals Biden Admin’s Expansive Religious Liberty Violations and Hostility to American Christians” (S.A. McCarthy, Washington Stand)

From the article -- “Our Nation’s origin and system of government bear the imprint of a Christian worldview and ethic, even as its laws protect religious pluralism. Christian beliefs, in conjunction with contemporary political thought and economic realities, influenced colonial settlers in their decision to overthrow tyranny and pursue independence,” the report’s introduction states. “After the Revolutionary War, Christians then informed the structure and contents of the United States Constitution, its amendments, and contemporaneous state constitutions.”

“But, when Christian beliefs about morality and human nature conflicted with the Biden Administration’s views, religious rights often suffered,” the report’s introduction continues. “The Biden Administration generally tolerated religious beliefs that were privately held but zealously pursued actions to limit Christians’ ability to act in accordance with their faith. This affected matters of deep personal importance to nearly every American: life, family, marriage, and self-identity,” it continues. “The Biden Administration’s policies regularly clashed with a Christian worldview and burdened traditional religious practices. These conflicts frequently arose over abortion, gender ideology, and sexual orientation. Ultimately, the Biden Administration penalized Christians who lived in accordance with their beliefs.”

The report details 14 “key findings” regarding the Biden administration’s abuse of power and violation of religious liberties, ranging from a two-tiered justice system and aggressive prosecution of pro-life activists to the coercive violation of conscience rights and the rabid promotion of LGBT ideology. The taskforce also identifies several “remedies” that the Trump administration has enacted to ensure that the federal government is not weaponized against American Christians.

Related articles: “New Report Thaws the Chill of Bias against Christians” (Tony Perkins, Washington Stand)...“Task Force Publishes Report on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias and Restoring Religious Liberty” (Office of Public Affairs, Department of Justice)...“Pardons Aren’t Enough. The FACE Act Must Go” (Andrew Bath, Federalist)

4) “The New Religion of AI: Who Gets to Define What It Means to Be Human?” (Robert Maginnis, Washington Stand)

From the article -- On January 20, 2026, historian Yuval Noah Harari stood before the World Economic Forum at Davos and issued a direct challenge to Christians worldwide. “If religion is built from words, then AI will take over religion,” he said, then named Christianity by name: “This is particularly true of religions based on books, like Islam, Christianity, or Judaism.” And he left this question in the air: “What happens to the religion of a book when the greatest expert on the holy book is an AI?”

The clip accumulated 1.2 million views within days. The room at Davos did not object.

Harari’s 2026 remarks are the current edge of a worldview shift building for years — visible in the public statements of the most powerful technologists of our time, spanning five distinct domains of the human person.

Related articles: “China is Infiltrating the Anti-AI Movement”  (Daniel Greenfield, Front Page Mag)...“Artificial Intelligence Misquotes The Bible Up To 60% Of The Time” (Ken Ham, Harbinger’s Daily)

5) “Why Is Progressivism Incompatible With the Declaration of Independence? Clarence Thomas Explains (Tyler O’Neil, Daily Signal)

From the article -- With his characteristic brilliance, Thomas cut through the Orwellian masquerade of Progressivism to reveal what it truly is—a fundamentally backward movement. By rejecting the solid footing of the declaration, Progressivism opened America to central planning and administrative rule.

While the declaration bases governmental authority on the consent of the governed and God creating human beings with inalienable rights, under Progressivism, “liberty no longer preceded the government as a gift from God but was to be enjoyed at the grace of the government.”

Thomas noted that President Woodrow “Wilson and the progressives candidly admitted that they took it from Otto von Bismarck’s Germany, whose state-centric society they admired. Progressives like Wilson argued that America need to leave behind the principles of the founding and catch up with the more advanced and sophisticated system of relatively unimpeded state power.”

Yet Thomas also quoted President Calvin Coolidge, who delivered a powerful address on the 150th anniversary of the declaration. “If all men are created equal, that is final,” Coolidge said. “If they are endowed with unalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress, can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which they can proceed historically is not forward but backward.”

Other Excellent Articles from the Week

* “Communism’s Comeback – and America’s Amnesia: A generation that forgot history is flirting with repeating it.” (Jeffrey Ludwig, Front Page Mag)

* “Biden Admin Used ‘Benghazi’ to Hide $90M to Planned Parenthood. Senator Wants DOJ to Probe.” (Fred Lucas, Daily Signal)

* “Teachers’ Unions Contribute a Combined $1 Billion Toward Left-Leaning Political Activism” (Kamden Muller, National Review)

* “Rep. Chris Smith welcomes Supreme Court’s decision in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. Davenport and protection of pregnancy care centers” (National RTL)

* “The Story Of Everything Hits At Just The Right Time To Boost America’s Faith Resurgence” (David Goodwin, Federalist)

The Top 5 Plus (April 25)

1) “The SPLC Was Paying the Ku Klux Klan, DOJ Indictment Claims” (Tyler O'Neil, Washington Stand)

From the article -- The Southern Poverty Law Center has raised money for decades claiming to dismantle white supremacy, but it funneled millions of dollars to white nationalist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, according to a federal indictment handed down Tuesday. The SPLC claims it was funding informants inside the extremist groups.

While the SPLC “purports to fight white supremacy and racial hatred,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press conference that “the SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose.”

Blanche highlighted one example from the indictment, where the SPLC paid a member of the leadership group that planned the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. “The Southern Poverty Law Center themselves advertise to raise money to dismantle violent extremist groups … however, the SPLC used the money they raised from their donor network to actually pay the leadership of these very groups,” FBI Director Kash Patel explained at the press conference.

The indictment charges the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, aiming to “obtain money via donations through materially false representations and omissions about what the donated funds would be used for.” It charges the SPLC with four counts of false statements to a federally insured bank by creating accounts for fictitious entities to funnel the money. Finally, it charges the SPLC with one count of conspiracy to commit concealment of money laundering.

Related articles: “SPLC Accused of Secretly Funding White Supremacist, Extremist Groups in DOJ Indictment” (Debra Heine, American Greatness)...“DOJ Charges Far-Left SPLC with Fraud, Money Laundering, ‘Manufacturing Racism to Justify Its Existence’” (Elizabeth Weibel, Breitbart)...“‘Fine People’ Hoax Uncovered in SPLC Fraud Scam” (Sasha Stone, Substack)...“A look back at the SPLC” (Scott Johnson , Power Line)...“DOJ: The SPLC Was ‘Paying Sources to Stoke Racial Hatred’” (John Sexton, Hot Air)

2) “A Catholic’s letter to an Israeli soldier: An appeal to the I.D.F. soldier who smashed a statue of Christ in southern Lebanon.” (Stephen Daisley)

From the article -- You have handed Israel’s enemies a piece of propaganda the likes of which they could never have dreamed. You have created for the Jew-haters a masterpiece of deicide, an antisemitic artwork for the ages. You have conspired to offend and disgust Israel’s millions of Christian Zionist admirers, in the United States and elsewhere, and for at least some of them this will mark a breaking point.

You have severely damaged your country’s reputation and, in alienating her friends, especially in America, you could be responsible for developments that reduce U.S. backing for Israel and therefore weaken her security. You have hurt Israel more than Peace Now, Breaking the Silence, and B’Tselem put together. I hope it was worth it, bro.

I guess I ended up adding to all the condemnation, after all. I didn’t mean to. I’m writing this, though I know you’ll never read it, because I am a supporter of Israel and I am also a Catholic. Not a terribly common combination. If you want to verify my Zionism, which is political and not religious, just check my back catalogue. I must have written hundreds of articles defending, consoling, and extolling Israel over the years. If you want to verify the Catholic part: I forgive you.

Personally, that is, for desecrating the holiest symbol in my faith. I’m afraid I can’t forgive you on anyone else’s behalf, but while seeing the image of you smashing a statue of my lord and saviour with a sledgehammer appalled and angered me, I forgive you.

I don’t hate you, I don’t think you’re a bad person; I think you did a cruel, obnoxious, sacrilegious thing, possibly because you thought it would be funny. I don’t think you intended to wound the world’s billion Christians, and even if you did, this wounded Christian wishes you only the best in return.

3) “Who Owns American History?” (John Fonte, American Mind)

From the article -- The President’s House, with an overwhelming emphasis on slavery, opened in December 2010. It was immediately attacked by cultural critic Edward Rothstein, then with the New York Times. Rothstein rejected the argument of the site’s adherents that the new interpretation was based on history previously not examined. In a rebuttal, the Times writer argued it was far more beholden to identity politics advocacy than nuanced historical analysis: “It is not really a reinterpretation of history; it overturns the idea of history, making it subservient to the claims of contemporary identity politics.”

He continued: After $10.5 million and more than eight years; after tugs of war between the city and the National Park Service and black community organizations; after the establishment of a contentious oversight committee and street demonstrations, overturned concepts and racial debates, it bears all the scars of its creation, lacking both intellectual coherence and emotional power.

Most importantly, Rothstein contended in a follow-up piece that the new ideological interpretation ignored what was significant for American history in the President’s House: the fact that the Washington and Adams administrations were influential in creating a new nation, a constitutional republic. Rothstein writes, “In the upstairs world of Washington and Adams, so blatantly ignored in the Philadelphia site, was the beginning of a national experiment: the faltering and difficult task of shaping a new society in which equality and liberty would indeed be governing principles, ultimately weakening the institution of slavery.”

4) “We Must Resist The Left’s War On Religious Freedom” (Mike Pompeo, Harbinger’s Daily)

From the article -- The collusion between the Justice Department – an arm of the Executive branch tasked with the fair and impartial administration of justice to all Americans – with pro-abortion activists against their ideological foes flies in the face of the DOJ’s mission, and the animating spirit of our Constitution. This doesn’t just compromise the rights of pro-life Americans – it opens the door for future abuses by government officials of all political and ideological stripes.

As a person of faith and as an American, I am grateful to the current Administration for doing the necessary to defend the First Amendment liberties of pro-life Americans. We cannot have a country in which the government treats our constitutional rights as conditional, or as favors to be granted to preferred political constituencies rather than God-given liberties.

But the fight doesn’t stop here. While we can hope that the legal remedies being pursued by the Trump DOJ will chill future efforts to engage in this type of behavior, there can be little doubt that pro-abortion activists will continue to use their power within the increasingly radical far-Left base to push for these tactics to continue. I give thanks every day for organizations like the ACLJ, which are truly doing the Lord’s work to ensure that these anti-constitutional, anti-faith zealots do not prevail.

5) “A Justice in Full: Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has served on the US Supreme Court for 20 years, but has never gotten the attention (or credit) he deserves.” (Mark Pulliam, Law & Liberty)

From the article -- In addition to the extensive interviews, Hemingway consulted with legal scholars, pored over the Court’s decisions, and reviewed the essays presented at a symposium on Justice Alito’s jurisprudence held in March 2022, which were published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy.

What emerges is the portrait of an earnest, even-tempered, hard-working, highly intelligent, resolute, modest, self-effacing champion of the Constitution. Acquaintances use the same adjectives to describe Alito: quiet, calm, brilliant, polite, unassuming, courageous. Hemingway puts Alito’s 20 years of service as a justice in the context of the Court’s evolution from a hotbed of judicial activism under Chief Justice Earl Warren to its current alignment—a historic 6-to-3 conservative majority—and explains how Alito has played a key role in that shift.

Hemingway also digresses surefootedly into profiles of and anecdotes about the leading figures in political and legal circles during the Reagan-to-Trump epoch. As I said about Hemingway’s co-authored book on the Kavanaugh confirmation process, Justice on Trial, due to her extensive interviews, “the reader feels like a fly on the wall, behind the scenes, as the events dramatically unfold.” Alito delivers the same insider scoop.

Other Outstanding Articles from this Week:

* “Living In A Culture That Silences Biblical Truth” (Skip Heitzig, Harbinger’s Daily)

* “We’re No Better Today Than Pagan Nations… And The Numbers At Planned Parenthood Prove It” (Ken Ham, Harbinger’s Daily)

* “’Study’ Claiming Mail-Order Abortions Are ‘Almost Exclusively’ Legal Is Fake News” (Jamie Bryan Hall, Federalist)

* “Hawley Hunts Down the Secrets of America’s Shady Abortion Drug Maker” (Suzanne Bowdey, Washington Stand)

* “Hey, Tucker: Christianity and Islam Have a Long and Very Bitter History” (Josh Hammer, Jewish World Review)