From the article -- It’s hard to overstate how out-of-touch this way of thinking is, as if the past 15 years simply never happened, to say nothing of the past 50. Consider the three legs of the stool. On fiscal conservatism, we’re swimming in an ocean of debt that grows no matter which party controls Congress, while inflation is killing middle- and working-class families. On traditional values, we legalized gay marriage and then quickly moved on to normalizing transgenderism and acquiescing to so-called “gender-affirming care,” even for minors. On peace-through-strength foreign policy, we lost the War on Terror and are now funding multiple wars all over the world as part of a crumbling global imperium. The stool has no legs left...
* “Mean Girls Rising: Democrats are increasingly beholden to leftist radicals in their midst.” (Joel Kotkin, American Mind)
From the article -- Once the putative party of the people, the Democrats are increasingly the party of political “Mean Girls.” Epitomized by the congressional “Squad,” radicalized women are driving the party ever further to the leftist fringe on issues such as embracing Hamas, apocalyptic climate policies, mass illegal immigration, and transgenderism.
Party organs including the New Republic and the New York Times hail these activists as the “future of the Democratic Party.” Unlike traditional Democrats who won over small business owners, members of industrial unions, and aspiring middle class minorities, the Mean Girls have broken with the New Deal tradition that united the party. Rather than appealing to the aspirations of families, in the new configuration it’s all about “the personal is political,” with lifestyle and sexual orientation as defining issues....
* “A Letter-Party Wrap -- Along with Sample Letters” (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)
From the post -- Dear Congressman Bacon, Okay, President Biden and the Democrats rightly get the blame for some of America’s horrendous national sins. For instance, the twisting of Title IX to allow men into girls’ showers, or the mega-abortion profiteer Planned Parenthood getting an incredible third of its $2 billion revenue from the government. However, it is the Congress who controls the purse strings of the government! So why hasn’t the Republican-controlled House put a stop to these travesties? Because, like junior high kids who wilt at the possible displeasure of the “cool kids” clique, Republicans refuse to stand their ground before the criticism of Democrats and the establishment media. Were Republicans to actually do in Washington what they promise their constituencies back home, how much more moral and safe and efficient and happy our nation would be.
* “FBI Director Accused of Hypocrisy for Monitoring Conservatives but Not Pro-Hamas Protests” (S.A. McCarthy, Daily Signal)
From the article -- The director of the FBI is being accused of hypocrisy for allowing the targeting of concerned parents, Trump supporters, and American Catholics but not “monitoring” pro-Hamas rallies and protests on college campuses. Director Christopher Wray was asked in an interview on Tuesday about “actively monitoring” the rallies erupting across college and university campuses, which have become the subject of controversy and condemnation from even senior government officials. Wray replied, “We don’t monitor protests.” [No, says Graham Allen] They just monitor Republicans, Church, Christians, Donald Trump supporters, and parents who attend a PTA meeting...
* “When the Church Shrinks Back” (Aaron Edwards, Decision Magazine)
From the article -- The reason so many Christian leaders have drifted on these issues is that they’ve come to see Biblical sexual ethics as “unloving,” even “evil.” Such is the fruit of secular infiltration of the church. These doctrinal erosions don’t happen overnight. They occur gradually, year by year, compromise by compromise. It sounds like Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 4:3—of a time “when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions”—was written for today.
Even some evangelicals are losing their way, ceasing to be as convinced of their convictions as they once were. Increasing numbers now identify as “deconstructed ex-vangelicals,” more keen to proclaim stories of how the church has hurt them than stories of how Christ has redeemed them...
