As 2021 draws to a close, Americans have mixed feelings about everything. 800,000 have died from COVID. Many of us miss a calmer era of politics but also of civilized argument. Still, I believe a majority of us share a common faith or at least the morals of our nation’s Judeo-Christian foundation, but much seems off kilter as yet another COVID wave sweeps before us. 

The best way to keep Christmas and indeed the New Year ahead, though, is by treasuring your faith tradition, holding family as close as possible, laying down causes and caustic comments and reveling in the remarkable joys of being alive at a time of vast productivity and material comfort.

Gratitude for the good rather than anger at the awful is an inclination that can lead to a good start in 2022 and hopefully one that extends into the year ahead. Merry Christmas from all of us at Salem Media Group—and all the best of everything for the year ahead. 

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Around our household various movie versions of Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol” run on a continual loop over the holiday season. 

I have long loved that beautiful story, but as a pro-life Christian, I came to love it even more when I noticed certain details in the story which show Dickens embedded a pro-life message. England—when he was writing—was suffering from a panic over population growth, particularly among the poor. 

The misguided economist Thomas Malthus frightened elites with dire predictions about “the surplus population”— yes, the same phrase Ebenezer Scrooge used when he was asked to give support to the poor. Scrooge lived in fear of human fertility, shunning his nephew Fred because he married. 

But history shows that peak panic about surplus population was the exact time when actual poverty was about to begin its long retreat.

Dickens got it right: God blessed us, every single one of us. 

Merry Christmas.

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It’s been said in Connecticut that Senator Richard Blumenthal would go to the grand opening of a garage door. But even he ought to have some standards.

Recently, Blumenthal spoke at an event celebrating the 102nd anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party USA. What a disgrace.

Imagine the outrage—and rightly so!—if a conservative senator participated in a Nazi party event. Everyone knows Nazism is an ugly, murderous ideology of hatred.

But so is Communism. It, too, is a godless, totalitarian belief system characterized by envy and irrational hatred. In the 20th century alone, it’s claimed 100 million victims across Russia, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Its evil face should be shunned by decent Americans just as the Nazi swastika is.

Senator Blumenthal has now apologized for speaking at the Communist Party event. As well he should. 

Anyone who would mainstream or normalize Communism is despicable.

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Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is an old school Democrat, a tribune of working people, and he knows working people are the first to get burnt by raging fires of inflation. He stood up to progressive bullying throughout 2021 and got both the one-time infrastructure spending through the Congress while blocking an almost unbelievable attempt to transform America into a Western European socialist state in the horribly misnamed Build Back Better bill. It may not be just Manchin who is saving the Democrats from themselves—and all of us for that matter—as well as the filibuster, but he’s the one prickling with arrows loosed from the left.

There have been a few figures in the history of the Senate who have stood up for national goals at crucial moments in the era. Michigan’s Arthur Vandenberg—in the era of FDR—comes to mind. It’s not easy at the time but it stands out in the history of our country.

So: Thank you, Senator Manchin. Hang tough.

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Charles Blow—the very liberal columnist for the New York Times—recently wrote a column entitled, “We’re Edging Closer to Civil War.” On the possibility the Supreme Court’s reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision, he wrote: “In some ways the abortion battle now being waged in the courts is a test case. Can the states make an argument that a civil right can be reversed on the state level? Can they make the case that all that the Constitution does not explicitly spelled out should be reserved for the states?” 

Well, oddly enough, Mr. Blow, the answer is yes and yes—sort of. 

The pro-life argument is not that the right to abortion is a civil right that ought to be put on hold or reversed. The pro-life argument is that abortion was never a right,  rightly understood. The right to abortion is not a civil right at all. It isn’t now. It never was.  The Supreme Court declared it a right in 1973, but the justices knew they were inventing a right that was never imaginable in the United States Constitution.

And yes, Mr. Blow: Powers not delegated by the Constitution to the federal government are “reserved for the States respectively.” 

That, after all, is the 10th Amendment—I’m reading the U.S. Constitution.

 

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For nearly two years, the Covid pandemic has cast a shadow over Americans’ daily lives and activities.

It been a long time for adults. Imagine what it’s like for a child—when even a year is like an eternity.

Most adults are sick of the constraints pandemic life imposes. Many have returned to normal—but refuse to allow children the same courtesy, even though children are by far at lowest risk for being harmed by or transmitting Covid.

Adults across the country are maskless at awards shows, concerts, galas and sporting events. But little children sit masked at school, seven hours a day. Some perch miserably outside in 40 degree weather, six feet apart, just to eat lunch. Others eat inside but must do so on the floor.

It’s insanity. In healthy societies, adults sacrifice for children. We’re forcing children to sacrifice a normal childhood to appease neurotic adults. Get the masks off and get our children back to normal. It’s time.

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One of the ugly little details hidden in the House version of the Build Back Better plan is a scheme to raid the Roth IRAs of wealthy individuals who have accumulated a lot of assets in their accounts.

The basic premise of a Roth is: You pay taxes on the money up front and then you don’t have to pay taxes on it later. Of course, that depends on trusting the government. That trust is about to get strained.

Leaked private IRS information shows that some wealthy individuals—notably tech investor Peter Thiel—have been building large balances in their IRAs.

Mark my words: if the law is changed to allow the government to raid these Roth accounts, they won’t stop there. Once the principle is established that these accounts are subject to after-the-fact government expropriation, the asset grabbers will work their way down the income ladder.

Leave the Roth IRAs alone.

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For half a century, feminists have told women to step forward and claim what’s theirs. Yet now they—and the rest of today’s elites—are suspiciously silent as girls’ athletics are being destroyed.

Take girls’ swimming. Lia Thomas, a swimmer at UPenn, spent three years competing as a man. Now, competing as a woman, Thomas beat rivals by astonishing 14-second and 38-second margins, smashing two U.S. world records in the process.

Simply put: Those born male have physical advantages that help in swimming—greater upper body strength, larger hands and feet, more oxygenated blood, and longer arms and legs than most women. Yet we’re being told to ignore these facts as girls’ hard work, sacrifice, and achievements are systematically erased.

Every human being is beloved by God and carries the full weight of His glory. But it’s wrong to force female athletes to compete with biological males—and then make them stand by, smile, and pretend that’s not what’s happening.

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President Biden and his team like to talk about how popular their agenda is with voters. The White House talks about electric vehicles that only the wealthy can afford. They talk about the progressive social policy agenda that they intend to impose in their Build Back Better program. They talk about an economic recovery that few feel.

Rather than talk, perhaps the White House should start listening. At the moment, American voters are experiencing historic levels of inflation and crime – two topics that Biden either avoids or mischaracterizes, but which impact our lives every day.

ABC’s latest poll shows voters have become fed up. Only 36 percent approve of his approach to crime, a drop of seven points in two months. Even fewer approve of Biden’s handling of inflation – 28 percent, while only 41 percent approve of his economic policies, down ten points since September.

Democrats’ agenda is entirely disconnected from American life. It won’t be long before voters disconnect Democrats from power. 

 

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China has built the largest DNA database in the world—and it’s only growing. This should concern all of us. That’s because China could use this information in the future—perhaps, for example—to build bioweapons targeting specific ethnic groups.
 
Given this background, common sense dictates that Americans shouldn’t be storing their DNA or other personal information with Chinese-linked firms. Quite sensibly, after getting an FBI briefing about the firm’s connections to China, the Los Angeles County Sheriff notified the County that his office wouldn’t work with Fulgent. That’s the genetics firm LA County hired for mandatory covid testing and registration. Fulgent even admits in a public disclaimer it stores information outside the United States, where data privacy protections may not be as secure. I’ll bet. 

What’s alarming is how many others HAVE chosen to work with Fulgent. They include federal agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, and local entities, including the New York public schools. The question is: Why?

 

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