Better Off Without

Penna Dexter The Department of Education is not needed. More evidence surfaced recently in results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, given to 4th and 8th graders every two years. Average NAEP scores in both grades are down 2 points since 2022. A third of eighth graders scored “below basic” in reading, a record low. And math scores continue…

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Deep State Disempowerment

Penna Dexter A presidential transition always involves firing federal bureaucrats that populated the previous administration. The Trump team entered office motivated and prepared for this work — and rightly so. The Napolitan Institute, an organization founded by pollster Scott Rasmussen, recently released a poll of Washington DC-based federal bureaucrats. Sixty-four percent of those who voted for Kamala Harris for president…

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March Still Needed

Penna Dexter As evidenced by the crowd at last weeks’ March for Life on the National Mall in Washington DC, the pro-life movement is alive and well. In a post-Roe world, it’s still needed. Vice President J.D. Vance joined the marchers, thanking them for showing up in such large numbers on “this especially frigid January.”  He made it clear he’s…

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Biden’s Zombie ERA

Penna Dexter In one of his final lawless acts, just three days before leaving office, President Biden proclaimed that the Equal Rights Amendment is “the law of the land.” Congress passed this amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1972 and gave it seven years to achieve ratification by three fourths of the states. Proponents claimed the ERA would protect women’s…

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LA Burning

Penna Dexter I love living in Texas but, by birth and upbringing, I’m an LA girl — born in Pasadena, raised in a beach town, and educated at a university near downtown. I’m mourning the massive damage and destruction to life, homes, businesses, and landmarks in places I’ve loved. I remember dreading the Santa Ana winds, which sweep down from…

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Undo Gender Blending

Penna Dexter Whenever there’s a new session of Congress, the House of Representatives adopts a new set of rules to govern the way it conducts business. Four years ago, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced, and the House passed, a resolution aimed at making all House rules “gender inclusive.” The resolution expunged sex-specific words from House rules. So where the terms “father”…

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Disappearing Dining Rooms

Penna Dexter On Christmas Day, as I rushed to set my dining room table, I felt a strange sense of gratitude — for the table. And for the dining room. More and more Americans don’t have them and, in my opinion, they’re missing something special. In an article for The Atlantic, city planner M. Nolan Gray wrote of the disappearing…

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Prayer for 2025

Penna Dexter “Some people are calling it a “Vibe Shift.”  Before anyone is sworn into office, we are seeing the fruits of the November election. There’s a new optimism as we reflect on the things that need change. There’s much to pray for, so let’s begin: Heavenly Father, we’re grateful that voters rejected the gender ideology that allows, even encourages,…

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Detransing The Military

Penna Dexter The massive National Defense Authorization Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week. The Washington Stand reports that the bill “takes a sincere stab at some of the worst forms of military wokeness.” The bill was a compromise, but the election results spoke volumes to senators who previously insisted on expanding the draft to women and on…

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Congressional Bathroom Wars

Penna Dexter We are about to have our first openly transgender member of Congress. Democrat Sarah McBride won Delaware’s lone House seat and will be sworn in this January. Since Rep.-elect McBride is a trans woman (a biological male) there’s a bit of uncertainty regarding restrooms and other women’s spaces. Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina has introduced a couple…

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DEI Diminishing

Penna Dexter The troubled Boeing Company got a new CEO in August. Early on, Kelly Ortberg began winding down DEI at Boeing. DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — has been around for decades. Diversity requires the elevation of immutable differences — like race, age, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. Equity —often mistaken for equal opportunity — emphasizes equal…

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