* “After the Election — Round 2 (Including My Top 10 Pro-Life Requests of the New Administration) (Denny Hartford, Vital Signs Blog)
From the article — Did this election season show us that masculinity might be making a long overdue comeback? Just imagine what renewal our culture could experience if the manly virtues of courage, perseverance, honor, fortitude, sacrifice, wisdom, loyalty, and faith in God were to once again be encouraged, applauded, and carefully taught. Oh, my. Lord, please grace America with a reawakening of chivalry in all of its ideals.
And one thing more — there is nowhere that this masculinity comeback needs to appear more than in our pastoral leadership. Enough wimpiness. Enough compromise. Enough timidity. Enough whining about tax exempt status. Enough of the silence on issues that almighty God cares for very, very much.
Enough acting as if you’re being fair-minded by speaking such foolish fallacies as “I don’t care what political party you prefer, just vote your conscience.” This when you know full well that the Democrat Party stands proudly for unlimited killing of preborn boys and girls! Good grief, when Congress voted on a law that would require medical care being given to babies who survived an abortion attempt, not a single Democrat would support it! So, enough posturing and pampering and placating.
Enough listening more to the snowflakes in your congregation than you are to the clear teachings of Holy Scripture. My dear brothers, it is time to call things by their right names and to do so with courage, conviction, and winsome clarity.
* “The pope’s embrace of evil discourse: With his attack on Israel while the nation is fighting for its life, the pontiff has taken the Vatican backwards into a very dark past.” (Melanie Phillips, Jewish News Service)
From the article — In a new book published for the Catholic Church’s jubilee year, he wrote: “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.” In September, he berated Israel for an immoral lack of proportion. “Defense must always be proportionate to the attack,” he said. “When there is something disproportionate, one shows a tendency to dominate which goes beyond what is moral.”
These remarks are deeply troubling. They are the accusations routinely made by the enemies of Israel in the West, and they are shameful on many levels.
For more on this alarming subject, you can check out these articles too: “Pope Francis’ Genocide Cowardice: He can accuse Israel of genocide, but not the Muslim killers of Christians.” (Daniel Greenfield, Front Page) and “Unfulfilled Promise: Pope Francis and the Israel-Hamas war” (Adam Gregerman, Tablet)
* “Washington Post columnist claims ‘Republicans want to kill your kids:’ ‘It’s actually true'” (Joseph A. Wulfsohn, Fox News)
From the article — Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin is urging Democrats to change their messaging to say that “Republicans want to kill your kids.”
On Tuesday’s installment of her “Jen Rubin’s Green Room” podcast, Rubin insisted Senate Republicans who acquiesce to President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees must pay a “political price.”
“The people who irresponsibly put dangerous, treasonous, unfit people in positions of authority are responsible not only for those people, but for all the horrors that will unfold,” she said. “And Democrats better get started now tracking these people, holding these people accountable and making clear to ordinary voters who voted for what and who’s responsible for what.”
In order to do that, Rubin advised, “You can’t talk broad themes. You have to boil it down to nuts and bolts, and you have to be pithy. What do I mean by pithy? How about this: Republicans want to kill your kids. It’s actually true.”
* “Shake Up HHS: The department, exposed during the pandemic for its incompetence and groupthink, is in desperate need of reform—which Robert Kennedy Jr., whatever his flaws, will pursue.” (Jeffrey H. Anderson, City Journal)
From the article — Kennedy took the poster boy of the mask-and-lockdown regime to task in his bestselling book, The Real Anthony Fauci. But that book, a compelling and generally well-researched indictment of the public-health establishment, also makes clear that the agency’s problems extend well beyond one unscrupulous, attention-hogging bureaucrat. As former Trump advisor Scott Atlas reports in his own book, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health—all HHS agencies—appear to be infested with groupthink. During the pandemic, Atlas notes, White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Deborah Birx, then-CDC director Robert Redfield, and Fauci “shared thought processes and views to an uncanny level,” and “virtually always agreed” with each other.
Whatever his flaws, RFK Jr. does not share in such groupthink. And while Kennedy’s critics focus primarily on his being a “vaccine denier,” those accusations don’t undermine his broader case: that Big Pharma has taken too much credit for the improvements in Americans’ health over the past century-plus.
* “Make education great again!” (Adam Ellwanger, Mercator)
From the article — Teachers, for their part, have good reason to despair. Despite the monumental importance of their work, many are underpaid. They face administrators who value standardized test scores above all else. Meanwhile, declining standards for decorum and discipline, often justified in the name of “social justice,” have made schools unsafe for both teachers and students. Violence and insubordination create an environment unfit for serious learning. Some parents treat schools as daycare centers or demand good grades for minimal effort. Worse, parents of disruptive students often refuse to ensure their children do not rob others of the opportunity to learn.
Yet teachers, too, have failed. They inflate grades to keep their jobs but do no favors for students unprepared for future challenges. This, in turn, lowers the quality of education for students ready for more advanced work, driving gifted students out of public schools.
Another harsh truth is that many teachers are unprepared for the job. The education system has failed for so long that many teachers have never mastered the material they are supposed to teach. Colleges steer future educators toward “education” majors, where coursework focuses more on leftist “social justice” ideology than on subject mastery. Some graduates believe their mission is to “dismantle” an “unjust” society by creating anti-American activists. When these activist-teachers enter classrooms, they often abandon their duty to transmit America’s culture, knowledge, and values. Instead, they teach students to disdain their nation, its people, its past, and its way of life. This undermines social cohesion and deprives disadvantaged students of the tools they need to succeed.