Our 10 Favorite Literary Characters

It's our last night in the Colorado mountains (this time around) and after an eventful day that included an early morning work session at the coffee shop in Dillon, a vigorous and gorgeous hike near Keystone, a scare regarding our car's engine light on the way to Copper Mountain, a late lunch at the Empire Grill in Breckenridge, and more, we played a literature game on the balcony of our condo rental as we watched the sunset over the mountains.

It's a very simple game -- name your Ten Favorite Characters from Literature. And yes, we allowed a little liberty, as in accepting a "company" of characters from a particular work. Here are the lists we came up with. How about you?

Claire's Ten -- in no particular order:

* Aslan, Peter, Lucy, Edmund from The Chronicles of Narnia.

* Samwise Gangee, Frodo Baggins, and Aragon (Strider) from The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

* Fr. Timothy Kavanaugh from the Jan Karon series of novels.

* Miss Ella Bishop from Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich.

* John Sidney Howard from The Pied Piper by Nevil Shute.

* Sir Percy Blakeney from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy.

* Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

* Winnie the Pooh and his many friends from the books by A.A. Milne.

* Bishop Myriel from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

* Sherlock Holmes from the stories and novels by Arthur Conan Doyle.

And my list? Well, I agreed with Claire's selections of Sherlock Holmes, Fr. Tim Kavanaugh, Ebenezer Scrooge, Winnie the Pooh and friends, and the characters from The Lord of the Rings. The only point of clarification I would add is that my list read "Ebenezer Scrooge...or whoever is the protagonist from the Charles Dickens novel I'm reading at the time!"

But the differences? My list included...

* Ratty, Badger, Mole, and Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

* D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis from several novels by Alexandre Dumas.

* Horatio Hornblower from the series of novels by C.S. Forester.

* Atreyu from The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.

* Travis McGee from the series of novels by John D. MacDonald.

The Top 5 Plus (August 30)

1) “Facing up to Black Crime in America: We owe it to every victim, in every community, to stop
pretending reality doesn’t exist. Truth isn’t racist. Statistics aren’t bigoted.” (John MacGhlionn, American Spectator)

From the article -- It’s time to face a simple truth: discussing black-on-white crime isn’t racism. It’s reality, and reality doesn’t bend to our feelings or our carefully crafted fairytales. Black-on-white crime exists. In fact, according to National Crime Victimization Survey, blacks commit 85 percent of all non-lethal interracial violence between blacks and whites.

Let me be absolutely clear. This isn’t about defending one race or condemning another. It’s about the lives of Americans — black, white, and every shade between — who are left to live with the consequences. Crime that cuts across every racial line exists. If we treat the problem as taboo, we stay silent while the damage spreads.

The numbers tell a story that makes many people deeply uncomfortable. Violent crime is not evenly distributed across America. Certain communities commit violent offenses at rates dramatically higher than others. The standard deflections don’t hold water anymore.

2) “The British Aren’t Coming!-- The decline and fall of the non-American Anglosphere.” (Ronald Dodson, The American Mind)

From the article -- The flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, still “new” in naval terms, is visiting Rosyth—not to assert British naval prestige but to begin maintenance. Commissioned in 2017, the ship had already spent most of 2025 under repair after corrosion was found in its propeller shaft. Now, despite recent $4.3 billion refits, it’s once more out of action for further upgrades and inaccessible-system inspections, pushing its availability deeper into the future.

Three thousand miles to the west, a Canadian-born civilian sits on her living room couch, contemplating her approaching death. She isn’t terminally ill, but the state won’t provide the medical home care she needs. Canada has promised health care via socialized medicine, but it will instead administer a lethal injection within days. This is the regime of MAID, Canada’s euphemistically termed Medical Assistance In Dying legislation that legalized assisted suicide in 2016. This “choice” is presented as a compassionate right. However, in practice it underscores a disquieting fact: the machinery of death is more functional than that of living care.

These two scenes, thousands of miles apart, are sewn with the same thread: governance through surrender—be it in defense, health care, or the stories the state tells. In both countries there’s a clear willingness to cede the capacity to preserve life, the life of a polity or of a person, in favor of an easier, cleaner exit.

The non-American Anglosphere, from Ottawa to Wellington, is drifting into a post-sovereign condition. Their governments still perform the ceremonies of independence, but in their essential duties of defense, stewardship of demographic cohesion, and protection of vulnerable citizens, they have begun to relinquish the will to endure.

3) “Yes,the whole world is wrong about Israel: Even some who say they don’t hate theJewish state yet rely only on the mainstream media for news think that theremust be some truth to the ‘genocide’ blood libel. Challenging it isn’t easy.” (Jonathan S. Tobin, JNS)

From the article -- After all, if you’ve grown up believing that what you’ve read in The New York Times, watched on CNN or heard while listening to NPR is true, then why question the assumptions about what’s been happening in the conflict that are treated as accepted facts in those outlets and others like them? And even if you are willing to question individual stories that are largely the product of Hamas propaganda and spread by so-called journalists working in territory controlled by those Islamist terrorists, the sheer volume of reporting that bolsters these claims has established a baseline concerning assumptions about the war. Those who consider themselves fair-minded and not prejudiced in their opinions about Israel have long since accepted the idea that where there is so much smoke about Israeli misconduct, there must be fire.

In this way, the belief that the primary, if not sole, cause of suffering in Gaza is an unjustified and heartless war policy pursued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu becomes not merely a pro-Hamas talking point but conventional wisdom accepted by those on the political left and even in the center, where legacy liberal media outlets still have considerable influence.

4) “AmericaTakes a Stand for the Rights of Western Christians” (Jonathon Van Maren, European Conservative)

From the article -- There has, predictably, been much criticism of the Trump administration’s advocacy for prosecuted pro-lifers; indeed, it is extraordinary for an elderly pro-life woman to hear that the government of the world’s reigning superpower is interested in her case and that the “United States stands” with her, especially when so few others will.

But it is common practice for governments to advocate for persecuted dissidents in other countries; progressive regimes have been especially interested in defending LGBT activists. What is uncommon is that a U.S. administration is taking interest in the rights of persecuted and prosecuted Christians in the West. Even though Christians are now a minority in the UK while LGBT activists still cosplay as victims, the progressive establishment narrative still treats traditional Christians as dominant oppressors and their reigning ideological opponents as the underdog.

America’s interest in the actual underdog reveals the much-denied reality and forces profoundly uncomfortable questions for the ruling classes—and it is about time, too.

5) “The Evil Idea That Has Taken Over the Woke Right: The coming of ‘critical religiontheory’” (Josh Appel, Commentary)

From the article -- However, the evidence suggests that the new right-wing conspiracy culture is more than just anti-institutional—it is a new adaptation of an intellectual trend that has dominated the left for two generations. That trend is “critical theory”—the study of the supposedly hidden systems of power and oppression that shape society and must be exposed before being dismantled. Critical theory has found its most salient and powerful expression in the triumph of critical race theory, which posits that America was born in original sin in 1619 and still functions as a machine to suppress black people whose presence in the United States was a crime to begin with and whose problems are the result of a centuries-long criminal conspiracy against them.

The woke right has adapted this and created what I call critical religion theory. It holds that a small elite has hijacked Western civilization and actively used its power to manipulate the world against religion. For these thinkers, the danger isn’t the policy, but that the policy reflects an anti-religious force subverting their worldview, and the world itself, behind the scenes. This movement sees power as illegitimate and influence as suspect. Those in “power”—by which they mean having wealth and success—are clearly part of a group trying to influence the masses. The tools of subversion are money, drugs, movies, devil worship (literally), and sexual blackmail. If you disagree, it’s because you are in on it, too.

Other important reads for this week?

* “SenatorsAsk AG Bondi to Investigate Abortion Pill Manufacturers” (Daily Citizen via Harbinger's Daily)

* “Fourteen-Year-OldScottish Girl Arrested for Resisting Probable Assault by Migrants” ("Streiff," at Red State)

* “PleaseDeliver Us From the Poorly-Behaved Women...and the history they strive tocreate.” (Scott McKay, American Spectator)

* “Who's the Crazy Alert: Mental Health Form for Girls Who Think Boys in Their Bathroom is a Problem” (Beege Welborn, Hot Air)

* “Junkscience now dominates the reporting of the propaganda press” (Robert Zimmerman, Behind the Black)

Denny & Claire Join Nebraska Right to Life at the State Fair

Earlier this week, Claire and I enjoyed once again the opportunity to help out Nebraska Right to Life by manning their information booth at the State Fair in Grand Island. We took the Monday evening shift and the Tuesday morning opening shift and, as always, we were honored to partner with the excellent pro-life champions of NRL. And an added blessing this year was having friends join us for the outreach – Ralph & Carolyn Tate on Monday night and Virgil and Becky Patlan for the Tuesday morning shift. That was great. 

Among the highlights of these shifts were a lot of wonderful conversations with teenagers -- teenagers from Nebraska Christian School, from a community of special needs kids in Hastings, several musicians from a variety of the high school marching bands who were at the Fair that day, from a nearby high school which was using the Fair as a field trip, and more. 

But we also had plenty of profitable visits with adults, including people wanting the free fetal models we were offering, Christians who wanted to come by and thank us for being there at the Fair, a number of curious vendors who had booths in the building, a goodly number who agreed to sign our petition urging Congress to completely defund Planned Parenthood ASAP, and many casual conversations with people who were drawn by our pro-life information, video, fetal models…and our winsome selves!

Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to serve You and the cause of “the least of these” through this important outreach. And please protect, encourage, and use for Your wise purposes all who will be serving at the NRL booth for the rest of this year’s State Fair.

The Top 5 Plus (August 23)

1) “Sitting Ducks For Deception: Pastors, Have You Properly Equipped Your Congregations With A Biblical Worldview?” (Answers In Genesis/Harbinger's Daily)

From the article -- It is critical that you teach adults and youth in your church what a worldview is. For example, is there a God or not? If so, what is he like, and what is his relationship to the physical universe? What is the universe (an accident or purposefully created, infinite and eternal or not, etc.)? What is man (just an animal, unique from animals, related to God or not, basically good or inherently sinful, etc.)? Is there such a thing as absolute truth? Can we know truth, and if so, how can we know it? Is there right and wrong in an absolute sense, or is all morality a matter of opinion or majority vote?

Biblical Christianity answers these questions one way. The evolutionary view—which dominates our culture and public education and is humanistic and atheistic—answers these questions in a very different way. For the Christian, his or her answers should come from the Bible. Unfortunately, as the studies noted above show, many people in the church live their daily lives unconscious of the fact that they are actually influenced by the evolutionary humanist worldview more than they are by the worldview they profess to believe at church. So we must inform people about what a worldview is and how it affects our decisions and relationships.

2) “Topple Your Woke Idols: A modest proposal for healthy American assimilation.” (James Hankins, American Mind)

From the article -- In place of Christianity, public schools in the 20th century taught the civil religion of America. The chief doctrines of this quasi-religion were equality under the law; freedom of speech and religion; respect for God (a monotheistic but non-denominational God to be sure); respect for pillars of public order like the police, the churches, and the courts; and gratitude to those who had sacrificed themselves to preserve American freedom for future generations. Immigrants were encouraged to participate in our common American culture, especially in sports and music. For most of the 20th century, the public schools were egalitarian and public-spirited. They helped integrate waves of immigrants from all over the world into a common American culture and shared political values. With prodding from the Supreme Court, public schools were careful for over 60 years to exclude religious instruction entirely, but without, for the most part, adopting policies that were openly antagonistic to Americans’ faith traditions.

Since the 1960s, however, the public schools and other cultural institutions, public and private, have embraced a new religious faith: that of multiculturalism. Hollywood, of course, has been celebrating diversity for decades, casting its ghastly gaslight on our common life and history with ever-increasing detachment from reality. By now, after half a century, the lumpen Left have completely internalized the faith’s assumptions so that multiculturalism, with its subordinate dogmas of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, is understood simply as Moral, its opposite Immoral. Even more insidiously, traditional love of country has become “cringe,” the opposite of “cool.”

3) “We Need to Rethink AI Before It Destroys What It Means to Be Human -- AI is on track to erase human purpose, replacing work, struggle, and growth with machines—if we don’t slam the brakes, real life itself is at risk.” (Jeff Dornik, American Greatness)

From the article -- At last year’s We, Robot event, Musk unveiled Tesla’s new self-driving robotaxi. But what caught my attention was their preview of Optimus, the AI-powered humanoid robot. In their promotional video, Tesla showed Optimus babysitting children, teaching in schools, and even serving as a doctor. Combine that with Tesla’s fully automated Hollywood diner concept, where Optimus is flipping burgers and even working as a waiter and bartender, and you begin to see the real aim. Automation is replacing human connection, service, and care.

So where do humans fit in? That is the terrifying part. Musk and Bill Gates have both pitched the idea of universal basic income to replace traditional employment that AI is going to replace. Musk has said there will come a point where no job is needed. You can have a job if you want one for personal satisfaction, but AI will do everything. Gates has proposed taxing robot labor to fund people who no longer work.

The reality is that work is more than a paycheck. It is not just how we survive; it is how we find purpose. It is how we grow, how we learn, and how we take responsibility. Struggle is not a flaw in the system; it is part of what makes us human. The daily grind, the failures, the perseverance, the sense of accomplishment. Strip all of that away, and you have stripped away humanity.

4) “The New Allure of Positive Eugenics” (Chuck Donovan, Washington Stand)

From the article -- Eugenics, of course, has a well-earned bad name. It reached its first zenith in the Third Reich, but its origins date decades earlier with the arrival of inheritance studies and the findings of Darwinism, particularly the work of Sir Francis Galton, a gifted polymath whose contributions to measuring and understanding science were varied and substantial. The best account of the history of eugenics, in both its positive and negative forms, is that of Edwin Black, published in 2004. “War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America’s Campaign to Create a Master Race” is meticulously detailed and lays out the many ways in which scholars and social leaders in the West, including Europe, drove the Nazi campaign to weed out people the government was convinced were a drag on human accomplishment.

The new American voices for eugenics are politic enough that they do not openly speak of destroying embryos that are not up to snuff, whether that be compromised physical health, predictions of future diseases, or inferences of lower IQ. They do rely on techniques like IVF and embryo genetic testing that rely on identifying the “best” embryos and selecting them for implantation and gestation. The rest are presumably set aside, forgotten, discarded, or donated for research. What is most enlightening in Elinson’s article is how robust and advanced the “Silicon Values” genomics industry already is.

5) “Pro-Life Quotations? We Got a Bunch of 'Em!” (Vital Signs Blog, Denny Hartford)

From the article -- “The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us.  Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to the penalty for homicide.” (Saint Basil)

“When we consider that women are treated as property it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.” (Pioneer feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton)

“It seems to me as clear as daylight that abortion would be a crime.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

“Abortion does not kill a potential human person, it kills a human person with great potential.” (Anonymous)

“The best decision I ever made was keeping my baby.” (Poet Maya Angelou)

“The Bible makes it clear that God sees the unborn infant not as a piece of superfluous biological tissue, but as a person created by Him for life.” (Billy Graham)

“Abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun.” (1963 pamphlet by Planned Parenthood)

Other excellent reading for this week:

* “What America First Says to the World: We remain the beacon of ordered liberty for all mankind.” (Kristen Ziccarelli and Joshua Treviño, American Mind)

* “Report: Left-Wing Bureaucracies Are Quietly Subverting Red State Governance” (Shawn Fleetwood, Federalist)

* “The Cost of Conformity: Study Reveals 88% of Students Feel Compelled to Adopt Progressive Facade” (Sarah Holliday, Washington Stand)

* “How Does Planned Parenthood Treat Pregnant Women Who Don’t Want Abortions? Answer: Not very well.” (Sarah Terzo, NRL)

* “The Lucy Connolly scandal reveals the folly of policing hatred: If we do not want a repeat of this authoritarian farce, we need to take an axe to our hate-speech laws.” (Tom Slater, spiked!)

* “Education and Wealth Trump All Identity Politics: Under Trump, we stand a chance of returning to our Constitution.” (Bruce Thornton, Front Page Magazine)

Pro-Life Quotations? We Got a Bunch of 'Em!

Looking for a few striking and impressive pro-life quotes to grace your conversations, social media communications, and public presentations? Well, then you need to check out the remarkable lists of quotations that are on the Vital Signs Ministries website. As a matter of fact, you'll find three large groups of quotes on this VSM page -- enlightening and challenging quotes like these...

“The hairsplitting difference between formed and unformed makes no difference to us.  Whoever deliberately commits abortion is subject to the penalty for homicide.” (Saint Basil)

“When we consider that women are treated as property it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.” (Pioneer feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton)

“It seems to me as clear as daylight that abortion would be a crime.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

“Abortion does not kill a potential human person, it kills a human person with great potential.” (Anonymous)

“Probably nothing has been as damaging to our cause as the advances in technology which have allowed pictures of the developing fetus, because people now talk about the fetus in much different terms than they did 15 years ago. They talk about it as a human being, which is not something that I have an easy answer on how to cure.” (Harrison Hickman, pollster for the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League)

“The best decision I ever made was keeping my baby.” (Poet Maya Angelou)

“The Bible makes it clear that God sees the unborn infant not as a piece of superfluous biological tissue, but as a person created by Him for life.” (Billy Graham)

“Abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun.” (1963 pamphlet by Planned Parenthood)

The Top 5 Plus (August 16)

1) “Social Media And The Battle For The Mind: Who Is Ultimately Influencing The Flow Of Information” (David Bowen, Harbinger’s Daily)

From the article -- The Apostle Paul warned that in the last days, perilous times would come (2 Timothy 3:1–5). Among the traits he listed were people being “lovers of themselves” and “without self-control.” Social media amplifies these traits like never before. It has become, what I call, the cult of self.

Social media is a breeding ground for this self-obsession. Platforms reward vanity, self-promotion, and the pursuit of personal “followers.” The endless posting of curated photos and videos often feeds pride, envy, and comparison—the very sins that Scripture warns against (Proverbs 16:18, Galatians 5:26). What is the fruit of this? A generation is being discipled by influencers rather than by the Word of God.

Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat encourage constant self-promotion and comparison. Children grow up believing that their worth is tied to how many followers they have or how many people approve of their selfies. The Bible warns, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). Yet, our children’s minds are being conformed to a digital pattern that thrives on vanity and validation.

2) “More Than 20 GOP AGs Ask RFK Jr., FDA to Reinstate Abortion Pill Safety Regulations” (Katharine Hamilton, Breitbart)

From the article -- More than 20 Republican attorneys general are calling on the Trump administration to reinstate safety regulations around mifepristone, the first drug used in a two-drug medication abortion regimen. 

The attorneys general, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pointing to the agency’s removal of “important safeguards” around mifepristone under the Obama and Biden administrations, along with a new study suggesting abortion pill complications are 22 times higher than previously reported. 

“Recent comprehensive studies of the real-world effects of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone report that serious adverse events occur 22 times more often than stated on the drug’s label, while the drug is less than half as effective as claimed. These facts directly contradict the drug’s primary marketing message of ‘safe’ and ‘effective,'” the letter reads, citing a study from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC).  

The EPPC study found that 10.93 percent of women who had mifepristone abortions experienced severe complications including sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days following the abortion. This percentage is significantly higher than the less than 0.5 percent in clinical trials reported on the FDA-approved drug label. The study is the “largest-known study of the abortion pill,” according to the authors, Ethics and Public Policy Center President Ryan T. Anderson and Director of Data Analysis and Fellow Jamie Bryan Hall. 

* Related article: “Shocking Data Suggests Abortion Pill Complications 22 Times Higher Than Previously Reported: ‘FDA Must Reinstate Stronger Safeguards’” (Katharine Hamilton, Breitbart)

* Related article: “Study: 84% of Mail-Order Abortion Pills Sent to Pro-Life States” (Joshua Arnold, Wahington Stand)

3) “Academia’s Most Lucrative Con: Turning common sense into career gold.” (John Mac Ghlionn, American Spectator)

From the article -- Morioka joins academia’s proud tradition of repackaging obvious truths as revolutionary discoveries. The formula is straightforward: mix common sense with a hefty dose of impressive-sounding drivel, publish papers, secure funding. Rinse, then repeat. (RELATED: Why Are People Fleeing Highly Educated States?) Psychology leads this intellectual fraud. “Positive psychology” researchers spent decades proving that optimistic people feel happier and — brace yourself — tend to function better socially. Millions in research grants confirmed what people with a functioning brain and bumper stickers already knew. “Resilience research” took it a step further, discovering that people who bounce back from adversity… tend to bounce back from adversity.

Educational psychology has turned the obvious into a cottage industry. Academics publish peer-reviewed studies confirming that students learn better when teachers explain things clearly and don’t yell at them. Additional research reveals that kids respond better to encouragement than nonstop criticism, and that engaged students tend to do better than the ones staring at the clock, counting the minutes until lunch. Each “finding” is filled with jargon-heavy abstracts and overly long methodology sections, simply stating what every non-degenerate already knows instinctively. 

4) “Smithsonian’s American History Museum Is Wall-To-Wall Anti-American Propaganda” (Breccan F. Thies, Federalist)

From the article -- Like the national parks, the Smithsonian is part of America’s cultural inheritance. But because of its academic and historical nature, the institution, established by an act of Congress that was signed by President James K. Polk in 1846, has always been in a precarious situation where dishonest and destructive actors who have deep disdain for the United States might take over its stewardship.

That appears to be what has happened, particularly under the Biden administration, as museum halls are adorned with gay “pride” flags and exhibits are filled with pseudo-history or history that is framed dishonestly — seemingly in an attempt to degrade the American experience.

That is a far cry from the Smithsonian Institution’s mission: to be “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,” as initial patron James Smithson (after whom the institution is named) said in 1826 when willing his estate ultimately to the United States. Smithson’s donation would over time become the world’s “largest museum, research, and education complex,” boasting 21 museums, a zoo and conservation biology institute, and nine research facilities.

To that end, Trump administration officials — including Lindsey Halligan, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Associate Staff Secretary, Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley, and Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought — wrote a Tuesday letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III initiating an internal review of the Smithsonian’s exhibitions and materials.

5) “Illinois Mandates ‘Mental Health’ Testing For All Students; Experts Warn It Will Lead To ‘Mass Medicalization Of Children’” (Alex Newman, Harbinger's Daily)

From the article -- One major goal is to “normalize” so-called “mental health care” for children and adolescents, explained Democrat State Senator Laura Fine, the chief sponsor of the bill. “The screenings will be designed to catch the early signs of anxiety, depression or trauma before it becomes a crisis or, in some cases, sometimes too late,” she said.

While Illinois is the first state to do it with SB 1560, Big Pharma lobbyists hoping to profit from drugging children are working overtime to get similar schemes passed in other jurisdictions. Even some Republican-run state governments are moving in that direction. And with pharmaceutical interests pouring money into political campaigns, the clock is ticking.  

Other recommended reads for this weekend:

* “Google Busted Sending GOP Fundraiser Emails Directly To Spam” (Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge)

* “The Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World Is Flying Under the Radar. “We have sent hundreds of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in foreign assistance into the coffers of criminal regimes responsible for manufacturing the crisis.” (Andrew Gondy, American Spectator)

* “Hard Reality for the Right Wing: Immigration surges, birth rates plunge, and the West faces a choice: revive family life or watch its culture dissolve into demographic decline.” (Edward Ring, American Greatness)

* “The media's Ponzi scheme of lies: Al Jazeera is the Islamists’ principal weapon in the war of information to destroy Israel and the west.” (Melanie Phillips, Substack)

* “You sound like ChatGPT: AI isn’t just impacting how we write — it’s changing how we speak and interact with others. And there’s only more to come.” (Sara Parker, The Verge)

* “The EU ‘Elites’, Part I: Corruption and Foreign Influence Operations” (Robert Williams, Gatestone Institute)

August's "When Swing Was King" Show Is (Once Again!) A Winner!

It is a busy and blessing-filled week for the “When Swing Was King” part of our ministry with 7 of this month’s 12 shows being presented this week. But we don’t want to be stingy on those blessings. Therefore, we post the August “When Swing Was King” songlist below as a teaser that might encourage you to drop into one of our shows this week or next. We would love to have you...as would the residents of the senior facilities where our shows have won so many hearts over the years. 

Here's what’s playing -- accompanied, of course, by about 240 remarkable photographs from the same years. It makes for a profoundly enjoyable and moving “sentimental journey.”

1) Glenn Miller Orchestra: “String of Pearls” (1942) 

2) The Andrews Sisters: “Begin the Beguine” (1945)

3) Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra: “Can’t We Be Friends?” (1935)

4) Andy Williams: “The Days of Wine and Roses” (1963)

 5) Eydie Gorme: “Hello Young Lovers” (1959)

6) Nat King Cole (Backed by the Billy May Orchestra): “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” (1964) 

7) Connie Francis: “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” (1960)

8) Perry Como (With the Mitchell Ayres Orchestra and Chorus): “Patricia” (1950)

9) Benny Goodman Orchestra: “Here’s Love In Your Eyes” (1936)

10) Robert Goulet: “Gigi” (1962) 

11) Guy Lombardo Orchestra (Kenny Gardner, vocals): “Getting to Know You” (1951)

12) Fred Astaire (With the Johnny Green Orchestra): “The Way You Look Tonight” (1936)