Have you ever looked at the back of a dollar bill? 

It has a representation of the Great Seal of the United States as commissioned by Congress. It references 1776, the year of the declaration’s assertion of inalienable rights. Why put that on the dollar? To declare to the world that our currency is backed by a pledge to adhere to certain principles. 

When the country remains true to those principles, currency retains its value. Unfortunately, we’re seeing now that the converse is true: when the country abandons those principles, the currency loses its value. 

We just got some new reports that help us to put a number on that loss of value, 7.5 percent on an annualized basis. That means that at the rate of loss in January, it took a dollar to buy what previously cost only 92 cents. This is a colossal failure on the part of our ruling class.

It's hard to imagine a more complete failure. 

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There was big news over the weekend from special counsel John Durham, charged with investigating the Trump Russiagate hoax. The special counsel has alleged the Clinton campaign paid a tech company to infiltrate servers belonging to Trump Tower and later, The White House. The plan was to create the appearance that Donald Trump was colluding with the Russians.

In short, the special counsel believes Trump’s political enemies spied on and lied about an opponent, and then, more seriously, the president of the United States in order to drive him from office. If true, it’s a mind-blowing atrocity. Political wrongdoing doesn’t get more serious than that.

Yet there’s been barely a peep from the legacy media. And it’s not hard to understand why. They’re the ones who embraced the Russiagate narrative and drove it, reporting night after night on how the “walls were closing in” on President Trump. Covering its implosion reveals them for what they are: Corrupt, craven partisans.

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Russia’s imperial ambitions have brought its armies to the frontier of Ukraine—and with them comes a dawning realization that the West miscalculated the meaning of the collapse of the Soviet Union. So did Russia.

In our haste to extend NATO to the borders of Russia, the West made the fatal mistake of seeing the Soviet collapse as an end to history itself. We led Ukraine to believe we would defend its borders against Russia when, in reality, we had neither the resources nor the will to do so—and never did.

Vladimir Putin has miscalculated too. If he invades Ukraine as expected, such a war and occupation will be costly in lives and treasure, neither of which Russia can spare. Even if they win the war, an extended occupation will grind down the Russians and potentially be as destabilizing to Moscow’s power structure as Afghanistan turned out to be.

The costs for all sides will be enormous. We pray Putin will realize that in time.

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The trucker protests in Canada remain big news—on both sides of America’s Northern border. What’s notable is the fact that this kind of thing really doesn't happen in Canada—but it did.

Yes, our cultures have many similarities—but they have just as many differences. One of those difference is that Canadians—in general—don’t do protests. Americans do. Just look at what we have seen over the course of these past two years.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote about the development in a very interesting way, “The lesson for the COVID-19 police is that when you’ve lost even Canadians, arguably the most law-abiding people on the planet, you’ve lost the political plot. Time to adopt a new strategy, more tolerant of the need to return to life not dominated by pandemic fear and government commands.”

That's really, really accurate. 

When the pent up frustration of two years of government crackdowns in the midst of a pandemic rolls over into protests in Canada … well those protests are big news.

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Sometimes we have to go back to basics and make sure we don't forget the hard lessons learned by the Founders. America as founded on the basis of “natural liberties.” These liberties pertain to all human beings by nature and forbid the government jurisdiction over them. Examples would be freedom of speech and religious liberty.

These liberties have made our nation unique and distinctive on the world stage. Religious liberty—simply put—leaves government out of the business of faith. But endorsing religious liberty does not mean endorsing everything that people do with that liberty.

If we lose the basic idea that endorsing liberty does not mean endorsing everything people do with that liberty, then liberty will be blamed for all the ills of mankind, and will continue to erode, and will eventually be lost.

In our frustration with a declining culture which increasingly abuses freedom, let’s not abandon our foundational liberties, instead let’s teach people how to use them wisely.

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“The era of big mandates is over,” NBC News declared after six blue states acted to reverse indoor mask mandates over the past few days. Starting in New Jersey, Democratic governors in five states rolled back COVID-19 mandates after facing voter anger and parental fury over requirements that never had a firm basis in science in the first place. 

With the Omicron wave of cases fast receding, it appeared for a brief moment that the White House got the message. Instead, the CDC used a hastily arranged press briefing on Wednesday to announce that their guidance wouldn’t change at all. Despite the hint from NBC and the clear message from voters across the political spectrum, the Biden White House wants to cling to mandates rather than shift to an endemic posture on COVID-19.

A reporter asked Jen Psaki whether the CDC risked becoming irrelevant to Americans as states begin ignoring their outdated guidance. She essentially just doubled down. The Biden administration has proven its irrelevance.

The administration will get left behind. Americans are done with big mandates.

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I don’t feel sorry for politicians very often.

But last week in my normally genteel blue-state town, four state legislators came to gauge community sentiment about the statewide mask mandate. And boy, did they get an earful.

There were concerned dads in attendance. And a few speakers advocated continued caution. But they were overwhelmed by the moms—impassioned moms, who are done putting masks on their children.

There were stories of little kids, who’ve never seen their teachers smile. Of older students, disaffected and depressed because they haven’t had a normal school day for two years. Of children with rashes around their mouths, speech impediments, developmental delays, and more.

Through all of it ran a palpable sense of betrayal from good citizens who’ve tried to do the right thing. They’ve come to realize the sacrifice demanded of their children has been both damaging and largely unnecessary. They’re angry. And I don’t blame them one bit.

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There have been plenty of smash-and-grab robberies recently, but what GoFundMe tried to do to Canada’s Freedom Convoy takes stealing to a whole new level.

A fundraiser hosted on GoFundMe for the Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates had raised $8 million dollars.

Then GoFundMe tried to claim the protest violated its terms of service, which prohibits “the promotion of violence and harassment.” So GoFundMe announced it would just take the donated money and distribute it to other charities instead.

What disgusting, politicized hypocrisy. GoFundMe was willing to host Black Lives Matter fundraisers, despite the numerous riots that occurred throughout the summer of 2020.

After pushback from Republican leaders, GoFundMe has backed down, promising automatic refunds of all donations. And those who want to support the Freedom Convoy can do so through GiveSendGo.

But everyone should remember: GoFundMe tried to keep millions of dollars, and direct them far from their intended beneficiaries. It should never be trusted again—with anyone’s money.

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It has been more than five months since Joe Biden disgracefully abandoned thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of our allies in Afghanistan. For most of that time, our national media has steadfastly averted its eyes from this moral stain on the presidency. While individual journalists have pressed the State Department for answers and updates, their employers have rarely if ever reported on the topic.

Now, the liberal media outlet The Atlantic finally delivered a devastating report on Biden’s catastrophic retreat from Afghanistan. George Packer oddly avoids the topic of abandoned Americans, but he makes clear the lack of empathy or purpose in Biden’s actions, other than indulging his vanity at the expense of American credibility. His chaotic withdrawal, Packer concludes, “added moral injury to military failure.”

Biden isn’t the only perpetrator of this moral injury. The American media disgraced itself by ignoring Biden’s dishonorable abandonment of Americans and allies alike. Will other media outlets follow the example from Packer and The Atlantic and cover this story, or will they continue to carry Biden’s water instead?

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Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jan Kleeb lamented this week that “we’re doing all these good things as Democrats, and yet the voters don’t seem to be on our side.” Like the White House and Democratic leadership in Congress, Ms. Kleeb gets this entirely backward. 

Inflation, shortages, the pandemic, and crime touch most Americans’ lives every day, either directly or indirectly. Spiking crime rates limit our freedom of movement. Inflation erodes our buying power, while pandemic policies and the supply chain crisis keep grocery shelves empty. 

Rent has spiked upward by as much as 40 percent in urban areas. Yet Democrats remain focused on their climate-change policy in Congress while President Biden demands even more inflationary spending to buy votes.

Jen Psaki scoffed at crime concerns, calling them a figment of a Fox News “alternate universe.” In the real world, homicides and carjackings have exploded over the past two years and retail thefts have shockingly exploded.

Democrats’ problem isn’t that voters aren’t on their side. It’s that Democrats aren’t on voters’ side—and voters have figured it out.

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