I recently attended the annual shareholder meeting of Microsoft where, as an investor, I put a question to the management of the company asking why Microsoft, like so many other companies these days, seems to feel the need to divert attention away from their day job and dabble in divisive political issues.

Turns out that I’m not the only one who shared that concern.

The moderator said many people were asking about that on both sides. This is real progress. It used to be that Christians and conservatives were completely MIA from this new front in the cultural battlefield. We didn’t show up—and thus we lost by forfeit.

But things are changing: Brad Smith—Microsoft’s President—responded by saying business leaders do not need to, “speak out on every issue under the sun” and should stick to issues directly related to business concerns. That’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough.

We all need to do more.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Outgoing New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has just imposed an emergency vaccine mandate on all public and private workplaces in response to the latest COVID variant. Not only is this premature, the motivation looks more like grudge settling than public health.

De Blasio’s edict doesn’t go into effect until December 27, less than a week before he leaves office. Why not immediately? If de Blasio thinks it will stop Omicron’s spread, the time for the mandate is when workplaces are open—not when most offices will close down for holidays anyway.

This smells more like payback than wise public-health policy. The incoming mayor, Eric Adams, criticized de Blasio over his public-sector mandates and lack of coordination with city-employee unions. De Blasio’s order and timing leaves a mess in Adams’ lap without rationally addressing the potential risks of the new COVID variant, which has yet to result in a single documented death. De Blasio’s move is both premature and politicized.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Dobbs case went before the Supreme Court last week. Now we wait to see whether a majority of justices will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Most interesting was the contrast between the questioning of key justices. Justice Sotomayor, obviously pro-abortion, asked whether—if the court overturns Roe—it will “survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?”   

Justice Thomas, as clearly pro-life, took a different approach. He returned repeatedly to the truth that two lives are implicated in every pregnancy—asking counsel to distinguish between prohibiting an abortion and laws that forbid women from ingesting substances harmful to an unborn baby.

The contrast was revealing. Even as the pro-abortion side deplores the perception of politics, all it has are political arguments—no legal, much less moral ones. But in a world riddled with moral equivalence, the pro-life side saw a ringing reaffirmation of moral truth.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

High gasoline prices have hit working class families hard and contributed to the highest inflation rate in decades. Rather than fix the problem by reversing Joe Biden’s policies restricting American energy production, Pete Buttigieg laughed off the concerns. Fuel prices won’t matter, the Transportation Secretary told MSNBC, when everyone drives an electric vehicle.

What Buttigieg failed to explain is how we’ll be able to supply sufficient electricity to charge tens of millions of personal vehicles. States such as California already cannot meet demand for electricity for normal use, let alone the demand produced from millions of electronic vehicles. Decades of pressure to end fossil-fuel energy production have created a brittle electrical infrastructure, while years of promises to create “green” energy production on a similar scale have gone unfulfilled.

What happens when we shift that demand from highly scalable and dynamically priced gasoline (and diesel) to the price- and source-regulated grid? It will be a replay of the current supply-chain crisis, but on steroids.

The electricity shortages that follow will not just drain our personal vehicles but also our economy. It’s yet another policy disaster from the Biden administration.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s long been clear Tony Fauci of the NIH is more of a politician than a scientist. No one thrives in the public health bureaucracy for 53 years without keen political instincts.

But this week, Fauci revealed himself as an open partisan. Ted Cruz called for him to be prosecuted over his links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci responded by alluding to January 6th—though there’s no evidence Cruz was involved in any way.

And that’s the problem in a nutshell. In service to his own ego, Fauci’s willing to score partisan points even if it means further squandering the good will and trust of at least half the country.

That gamesmanship only reinforces the growing sense that Tony Fauci is perfectly capable of ignoring both science and the public good to boost his own stature.

Fauci’s contradictory (and often misguided) health pronouncements may have kept him in the spotlight—but they’ve also caused enormous, needless suffering.

It’s time to hold him accountable for it.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jack Dorsey has announced the end of his second tenure as CEO of Twitter, saying “There aren't many founders that choose their own company over their ego”—which of course is a claim dripping with ego. But his self-praise is not well deserved. 

Dorsey has presided over a series of unforced errors at Twitter, including a pattern of political bias that has put the company, and even the industry, at risk of severe political and regulatory backlash. Dorsey was understandably under pressure from shareholders to resign, partly due to his tarnishing of the brand and also to the fact that he seemed to neglect his job responsibilities in favor of various personal distractions.

Shareholders want a CEO who puts their interests ahead of his hobbies.

Dorsey—like the Tweets over which he presided—suffers from too much of a character limit.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The national divide over abortion has come to a decisive moment today at the Supreme Court of the United States as the Court will hear oral arguments on the case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Both sides on America’s increasingly divisive abortion controversy agree on this:  this is the case. Mark Sherman calls it an “all or nothing” battle in the abortion fight.

Supporters of abortion rights know that this is the greatest challenge to the Roe v. Wade decision to come in a generation. Those who contend for the sanctity of human life and hold to the pro-life position are in absolute agreement.

It’s going to be a very big week in American constitutional law. And: It’s going to be a very big week when it comes to matters of the constitution, human rights, human dignity and the future of this country.

Watch closely and pray.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Voters made their displeasure with Democrats and their elitism known in recent elections. Rather than learn their lesson over their disconnect from mainstream voters, Democrats have doubled down by suggesting that Americans simply aren’t bright enough to comprehend their genius.

That is the clear subtext behind the sudden profusion of “messaging” stories produced by the media. For Democrats and their enablers, the problem is never Joe Biden’s incompetence, mishandling of the supply chains, inflation, or abandoning Americans in Afghanistan. It’s never Merrick Garland’s attempt to paint protesting parents as domestic terrorists. The only problem they admit having is selling their massive and radical spending programs as anything other than pandering to their progressive wing.  

Democrats should have learned lessons about voter priorities—especially on the economy, parental engagement in education, and competent governance. Instead of introspection, Democrats—and the media—have chosen to blame voters for their leadership’s own failings.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosting the Olympics isn’t a right—it’s a privilege. That’s why it’s so hard to believe that the Winter Olympics will open early next year in China.

No doubt China has become increasingly powerful on the world stage. But it behaves like a rogue nation.

It has engaged in crimes against humanity, imprisoning and torturing Uighurs. It “disappeared” female tennis champion Peng Shuai after she accused a senior Chinese leader of sexual assault. And most egregiously, China has completely dodged any semblance of transparency or accountability for unleashing covid on the world.

This is not a nation that deserves the opportunity to launder its image through a barrage of positive PR during the Olympics. It’s unacceptable for the United States and its allies simply to look the other way.

Until China behaves like a civilized country, it should be denied the chance to promote itself as one.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Barronelle Stutzman is a floral artist who serves everyone, including her longtime customer and friend, Rob, for nearly 10 years.

When Rob requested custom arrangements for a same-sex ceremony, Barronelle kindly referred him to other florists. They hugged and Rob left. She thought they parted as friends who disagreed about a deeply personal issue on which she had a religious conviction.

Barronelle couldn’t have imagined what would happen next. For nearly a decade, Washington State and the ACLU relentlessly pursued her. They put her livelihood, her shop, and her life savings at risk.

But thankfully, a recent settlement brought her case to an end, and Barronelle can retire. And through it all, Barronelle never violated her conscience. She inspired millions to resist government coercion and creative professionals to stand up for their rights, including at the Supreme Court right now.

This fight is not over.

Alliance Defending Freedom continues to fight for your freedom, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and we invite you to join us.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.