A Bright Line

Penna Dexter The US Department of Health and Human Services is issuing a rule that lines up with the principle that abortion is not health care. The Trump HHS is updating a rule to bring the Title X Family Planning Grant Program back in line with what existed under the Ronald Reagan administration. President Reagan’s “protect life rule” prevented family…

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#MeToo Quotas

Penna Dexter The #MeToo movement is curtailing sexual predation in the workplace. But it has a growing destructive component. Institutions across society are doing all they can to make certain the term “all white male” could never be used to describe them. Journalist, attorney, and Manhattan Institute Fellow Heather Mac Donald spoke about this to students and faculty at Hillsdale…

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Bye-Bye Boy Scouts

Penna Dexter No one should be shocked at the announcement that the Boy Scouts of America will drop the word “boy” from the name of the program that has served young boys for 102 years. Beginning in February this program will be known as Scouts BSA. We’ve known this was coming since last’s year’s announcement that the organization is opening…

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Censoring Chastity

Penna Dexter A book-banning law has passed the lower chamber of the California legislature. Actually, the bill bans more than books. It bans anything that an individual might purchase that expresses Christian orthodox beliefs about how a person should deal with sexual orientation or gender identity issues. The proposed law treats honest endeavors to alter same sex attractions as criminal…

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GQ: Bible Overrated

Penna Dexter GQ — once Gentleman’s Quarterly — was launched in 1931 as a magazine of fashion, style, and culture. Men look to it for advice on grooming, gadgets, and apparel. The current version delves into current events and culture. But the magazine has, perhaps, overstepped its mission statement in the April issue with an opinion article from the publication’s…

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Better Feminism

Penna Dexter Many tributes to Former First Lady (and First Mom) Barbara Bush describe her 1990 Wellesley graduation speech, which placed her, at least according to the Washington Post, “at the center of a national debate about the nature of feminism that would continue for decades.” Feminists claim their movement is about making choices, but 150 Wellesley students protested that…

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Work for Food

Penna Dexter With unemployment at a low 4.1 percent, businesses are complaining that they can’t find enough workers. The WALL STREET JOURNAL says the shortage is due, in part, to “government benefits that corrode a culture of work.” Consider SNAP, the nation’s food stamp program. More than 40 million Americans are in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. That’s up from…

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Sex Ed Sit-Out

Penna Dexter The US Centers for Disease Control has declared April STD Awareness month. They cite the latest data to point out that Sexually Transmitted Diseases are at record levels and that young people, for behavioral and biological reasons, are at high risk of contracting STDs. The CDC’s plan of action is “Talk, Test, and Treat.” OK. But how about…

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Paid Maternity Leave

Penna Dexter On the campaign trail, Candidate Trump unveiled a childcare proposal that included six weeks of guaranteed paid maternity leave. Back then no one expected anything close to this to get through the GOP House. But, as Washington Post columnist George Will points out, “limited government conservatism has become a persuasion without a party.” The recently passed Tax Cuts…

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Sin and Easter

Penna Dexter There’s a sense in which we get surprised by Easter. There’s such a long ramp-up to Christmas every year. And then it’s over and the new year starts, and we’re all busy, and all of a sudden there’s Palm Sunday, and then Easter is here. Perhaps your church emphasizes the 40 days of Lent and you prepared for…

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California V. Crisis Pregnancy Centers

Penna Dexter The US Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a case that will determine whether pro-life pregnancy centers will be forced to speak a message that promotes the very evil they exist to combat.  NIFLA v. Becerra challenges the Reproductive FACT Act. This 2015 California law orders licensed crisis pregnancy centers to instruct women on how to obtain…

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