Fairness for All

Penna Dexter A question to ask ourselves as we begin a new year is: “What does the Church do when more and more of it becomes apostate?” WORLD magazine reported on an example of this as the boards of two evangelical Christian organizations, the Council for Christian Colleges and the National Association of Evangelicals, quietly passed resolutions supporting an idea called…

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Obergefell is Policy

Penna Dexter Over three years ago, the US Supreme Court ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples. The ruling has resulted in all states being required to perform and recognize same-sex marriages. This was a 5-4 decision, along liberal/conservative ideological lines. The swing vote was now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. He wrote the opinion for the…

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Saint Nicholas

Penna Dexter In his book, THE TRUE SAINT NICHOLAS, Bill Bennett tells the story of the precursor of Santa Claus. Bill Bennett spent years as a popular radio host. He’s also a former US Secretary of Education. He seeks, in this wonderful book, to teach us about Saint Nicholas and that he “matters to Christmas.” Nicholas was likely born in…

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Feminism Begat Transgenderism

Penna Dexter A feminist writer and podcaster named Meghan Murphy recently had her Twitter account suspended due, she thinks, to her observation that “men aren’t women.” The notice from Twitter said this was “hate speech.” This reveals the conflict between two ideologies of the left: feminism and transgenderism. Ms. Murphy maintains that the transgender ideology undermines feminism because feminism depends…

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A President’s Faith

Penna Dexter As America honors President George H.W. Bush, elected a mere thirty years ago, there’s a sense that we are much further removed than that from his time in office. He famously dashed off thousands of thoughtful communications to world leaders and ordinary citizens, not electronically, but via the handwritten note. It was a different century — really a…

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School Choice Moms

Penna Dexter The midterms brought an interesting lesson in racial politics. Columnist and black conservative activist Star Parker says voting data reveals what she describes as “a fateful anomaly in racial voting in the governor’s race between Democrat Andrew Gillum and Republican Ron DeSantis, now Florida’s governor-elect.” Mr. Gillum is the former mayor of Tallahassee and was running to become the first…

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Lawnmower Parents

Penna Dexter You’ve heard of helicopter parents. You know — the kind that hover over their children with too much fussing regarding the details of kids’ lives. They’re inclined to smother, to swoop in to rescue their kids often irritating coaches and teachers. A new trend in parenting has been identified — the rise of lawnmower parents. One college professor…

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Mainstreaming Socialist Ideas

Penna Dexter The campaign season brought some alarming advocacy of socialist ideas. An organization called Democratic Socialists of America spawned candidates who brought a mix of progressive ideas to their primaries. Most DSA-endorsed candidates lost their primaries. But they got a hearing and pushed some others to the Left. Candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez became a socialist poster child. She unseated a…

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A Failed War

Penna Dexter We often hear that the War on Poverty, launched during the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, hasn’t reduced poverty. It’s true that, since 1966, the first year that saw significant spending in the War on Poverty, the poverty rate as reported by the US Census Bureau hasn’t budged. It remains at about 14 percent of the population. During…

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Universal Basic Income

Penna Dexter A really bad idea is bubbling up from the left. It stems partly from the idea that Artificial Intelligence and the resulting automation of jobs, from driving to technology, will displace so many workers, we’ve just gotta do something. The Universal Basic Income has been floated by Barack Obama and certain Silicon Valley titans, among them Bill Gates,…

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Rebranding Planned Parenthood

Penna Dexter Cecile Richards stepped down last spring after more than a decade at the helm of Planned Parenthood. But she’s still speaking out for abortion rights. After the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, she urged pro-abortion activists to “stay angry” because “you will need all your anger now.” Under Ms. Richards, Planned Parenthood managed to hold on…

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