Townhall Review | Commentaries

Why is society is changing so quickly? 

We got an object lesson in recent days from Major League Baseball—what the Wall Street Journal derisively labeled “The Biden Baseball League” in the title of a recent editorial.

It was the opening sentence that was the most important: “If you still doubt that progressive politics dominates nearly every institution of American public life and culture, look no further than the decision by Major League Baseball to move its summer All-Star Game from Atlanta.” And President Biden had gone on to say that he would strongly support the idea and the league “ dutifully obliged two days later.” 

Major League Baseball was joining The Coca-Cola Company and Delta Airlines—two big Georgia corporations in the protest of Georgia’s voting law that has been widely misrepresented in media coverage. 

Big business in America now—woke business—is now largely under the control of those who are doing their best to change American society as fast as they can.

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As COVID-19 vaccines continue to get into people’s arms across the country, we should recognize how all of this would never have been possible without American ingenuity, hard work, and a remarkable can-do spirit. 

A year ago, we were reeling from the discovery of a new—and deadly—pathogen. In a historically short amount of time, a vaccine was developed and extensively tested. And—as I speak to you—over 2.5 million doses per day of COVID-19 vaccines are being administered into people’s arms, with about 190 million doses of vaccines distributed to state and local governments thus far—providing us all with a much-needed light at the end of the tunnel.  

All of this would not have been possible without the work of America’s pharmaceutical manufacturers, our scientists and researchers, and yes, Operation Warp Speed, the project started by the Trump Administration to develop and bring to fruition an efficacious COVID-19 vaccine. Today, we have not just one, but three effective vaccines.  

Three cheers for American ingenuity, indeed. 

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Joe Biden kicked off his presidency by falsely accusing Donald Trump of leaving with no plan for producing or distributing vaccines. In an effort to prove this point, Biden launched an expensive network of 21 federal vaccination centers that tied up millions of doses of vaccines. Biden promised that this would quickly accelerate a supposedly stalled vaccination system.

Now a report from FEMA informs us what most could have easily predicted. In the last two months, these 21 centers have only delivered 1.7 million vaccinations. The partnership set up by the previous administration with private-sector pharmacies delivers nearly that many every day. National chains and local pharmacies had the expertise and capacity to serve Americans where they live, which is why the Trump administration made that partnership a key vaccination strategy.

How much time has been wasted by the Biden administration’s desire to reinvent the wheel, trying to score points on his predecessor?

Will the media press him on it? Will they ask in his next press conference?

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We tend to think of the resurrection of Jesus as only a religious event, with no political implications.

But Jesus was executed by the state as an enemy of the state. The debates about resurrection in first century Judaism were intensely political. The Sadducees, defenders of the status quo, denied the resurrection. The more orthodox Pharisees affirmed it.

This makes sense.

Bible scholar N.T. Wright points out that states derive their power ultimately from their ability to kill people. By rising from the dead, Jesus conquered death, disarming that power. Christ’s resurrection was inherently—in the best sense of the word—revolutionary.

His victory gives men and women the courage to resists the Caesars, and the Kaisers and Czars of this world. The cross, the sword, the guillotine, the gulag and the firing squad do not represent the end.

The spirit of Caesar is still around, but more importantly so is the Spirit of Christ.

He is risen.  He is risen, indeed.

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We know that Jesus was killed on what we call Good Friday, but do we understand the motives of those who advocated for his execution?

Both the Gospel texts and other historical research make clear that the ruling class of His day—the “deep state” if you will—saw Jesus as a threat to their wealth and power. They decided to kill Jesus shortly after his confrontation with the economically exploitative moneychangers and after the parable of the vineyard, which made clear that Jesus was criticizing the Judean elites for using their power to enrich themselves.

In 33 AD Rome was in the midst of an empire-wide financial collapse.

Yes: Jesus had said and done many things which offended the doctrinal views of the ruling class.

But it was when He messed with their money, then the gears of judicial execution quickly began to turn.

None of this takes away from theological understandings of the crucifixion, rather it adds to them.

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If House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi seems desperate in her partisan maneuvering these days, it’s because the House that she now leads looks like a lock for the GOP in 2022.

The party of first-term presidents usually loses seats in the midterms following their inauguration. President Obama’s Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010. In 2018, President Trump’s Republicans lost 40. 

Redistricting will take place over the course of the next 18 months—throwing a wrench into the gears of prediction models, but one that favors Republicans.

But the GOP has the advantage here: The Brennan Center reports that Republicans will enjoy complete control of drawing new boundaries for 181 congressional districts, compared with a maximum of 74 for Democrats.

Yes, gerrymandering for political advantage has its critics, but both parties engage in it whenever they get the opportunity.

The bottom line is this: the Democrats’ meager nine-seat House majority is likely to evaporate in the midterms. 

Look for California’s Kevin McCarthy to be House speaker in 2023.

It can’t come soon enough.

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The new release of “Justice League” is getting rave reviews. Originally filmmaker Zach Snyder was the director of the film until a personal tragedy pulled him off the project. Joss Whedon was tapped to finish the film. The result was one of the worst superhero movies ever. Whedon’s cynical atheism was not up to the task of finishing out the sincerely religious vision of Snyder. 

Fans demanded Snyder’s version of the film be released—and the results are being praised. Issues of grace, divinity, idolatry and, yes, justice, are dealt with in respectful ways. The worldview of a filmmaker matters—and Snyder’s more conservative and religious influences have allowed the material to speak with far more power. 

Snyder’s first blockbuster, “300” was an unapologetic defense of Western civilization, though a bloody and brutal one. Justice League is likewise dark, and not appropriate for everyone, but at least in this case, there’s some light in the darkness.

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Graduation is a ceremony dating back to the 12th century. It is equal parts ritual, a unified celebration and a rite of passage. And now the Columbia University has gone entirely woke, this spring students there can participate in six different graduations divided by race, by income and by sexuality.

The phenomenon is sadly revealing of our era’s outsized obsession with identity politics. How, precisely, does it serve the message of tolerance and inclusion for the LGBTQ community to have a separate ceremony? Worse, imagine the criteria for inclusion in any of the racial graduations. It harkens back to the darkest eras of American history, when having even “one drop” of non-white blood could relegate a person to second-class status.

Graduation ceremonies focused on what divides us—rather than on what unites us—tears at the social fabric we all should be trying to create in these tense and fractured times.

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Manhattan and Washington, D.C. are two of the bluest cities in the nation.  And both make no bones about it: In order to qualify for the coronavirus vaccine in either place, you must show at least two forms of identification, proving age and residency.

This makes perfect sense. What doesn’t make sense is that neither city requires any ID at all for someone to vote. This is true even though a recent Rasmussen poll found that every key demographic supports photo ID to vote, including African Americans.

The left insists requiring ID would depress voter turnout. But a 2019 report from the National Bureau of Economic Research completely debunks that claim, showing that ID laws didn’t suppress registration or turnout over a ten-year period.

It’s both rational and right to defend what we value. Just as we protect access to the coronavirus vaccine, we should likewise safeguard the precious right so many have died to secure for us: our vote.

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Antony Blinken-our new Secretary of State-went to Alaska early this month
for his first major meeting with his Chinese counterparts.

After Blinken's opening comments he was welcomed by what the Wall Street
Journal described as a 20-minute "tongue lashing."

The incident highlights the major geopolitical struggle of our life and of
our children's lives and, yes, our grandchildren's lives: An increasingly
assertive indeed combative China.

The Chinese Communist Party is pushing and testing the Biden administration, and the Trump administration gets credit for waking our foreign policy  
establishment up to the threat from China. It's a tale told superbly in the new
book "Chaos Under Heaven" by Josh Rogin of the Washington post. Rogin gives
us a comprehensive reveal of China 2021-an unreformed Marxist-Leninist
superpower far more ominous in design and means than the USSR ever was or
could become.

It's not a Democrat issue, it’s not a Republican issue. It's an American issue.

... and we'd better wake up.

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