Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Professor Paul Kengor has a book on The Devil and Karl Marx that reminds us how much Marx hated God and Christianity. In his book and on my radio program, he cited Marx and many of the biographies that showed how scary he was. His own family and friends were frightened by his demonic fits of rage and his bizarre focus on violence. Marx wrote, “When our turn comes, we shall make no excuses for the terror. There…

Penna Dexter In a recent Gallup poll, just 16 percent of those surveyed said they “have a great deal [or] quite a lot of confidence in newspapers” — an all-time low. No big shock here. The Left is fomenting a wholesale rejection of truth and accuracy with the full cooperation of the legacy media. The Daily Signal’s Jared Stepman reports that even the Associated Press Stylebook, the media’s trusted manual for the rules of grammar and style, has gone woke….

Kerby Anderson One striking difference between Europe and America has been the temptation of many European countries to fall into totalitarianism. Dennis Prager reminds us that after World War I, many of these countries embraced communism, fascism, or Nazism. There is a very good reason why. The primary beliefs that gave rise to meaning in life were patriotism and the Judeo-Christian religion. The senseless slaughter during the Great War (as it was called) challenged both of those foundations. National identity…

Kerby Anderson Theologian Keith Mathison recently decided to delete his Facebook account. Years ago, he deleted his Twitter account. While there is nothing unusual about what he did, I appreciated his blog post that provided a thoughtful explanation for why he did. He talked about a phenomenon he called a “Jekyll & Hyde Effect” and then apologized if someone else already coined this term for this phenomenon. He said he hadn’t seen it used anywhere else. But he also acknowledged…

Kerby Anderson Stephen McBride is predicting the end of college as we know it. The key to his prediction is the last four words: as we know it. The prestigious universities will survive because they will always attract elite students and command huge tuitions. But what about the rest of the colleges that seem bent on teaching classes online? Cost will be a big issue. He reminds us that as recently as 1980, you could get a four-year bachelor’s degree…

Kerby Anderson It should be obvious to just about anyone with a bit of common sense that the “cancel culture” has gone off the deep end. I have talked about J.K. Rowling, writer of the Harry Potter series, who has been attacked for saying things that are biologically true but contrary to the latest politically correct transgender ideology. Then there is the communications director of Boeing who was forced to resign because of an article he wrote a third of…

Kerby Anderson How should the academic world respond when a research study published in a peer-reviewed journal comes to a conclusion you wouldn’t expect? In the past, some might have challenged the methodology or even considered doing a second study to see if the conclusions could be replicated. The latest tactic is to bring pressure on the researchers and their universities so they will disavow their own study. That is what happened to professors at Michigan State University and the…

Penna Dexter A blogger named Robyn Openshaw — a.k.a. GreenSmoothieGirl — wrote a post that will tug at the heartstrings of any parent who has been shocked when made aware of their child’s rejection of carefully-taught, seemingly-traditional values. She writes: “I wish I had figured it out sooner: the worst mistake we ever made was delegating the education of our kids to the state.” Robyn’s youngest son, age 22, recently informed her of his realization that the founders of our…

Kerby Anderson In previous commentaries, I have quoted Michael Shellenberger and his book, Apocalypse Never, which deals with environmental issues. But his latest book documents the problem of homelessness in one city. The title is: San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities. He documents various reasons why the homeless problem has become worse. Limited housing has been one reason. Expensive housing and warmer climates explain why the homeless can be found in California, Florida, and Hawaii. Not only is the climate…

Kerby Anderson The English language is changing rapidly because progressives have been giving new definitions to words and phrases. Apparently, we can’t even define what a woman is, what a recession is, or what free speech entails. The latest redefinition is the word “freedom,” courtesy of California Governor Gavin Newsom. As part of what may be a run-up to a presidential bid, the governor began an ad campaign in Florida boasting that California is America’s true “free state.” Most of…

Kerby Anderson Politicians and pundits are starting to take a closer look at ESG, which is a system that evaluates companies and countries with an index of Environmental, Social, and Governance concerns. For example, Senator Tom Cotton has been speaking about his concerns with how the system is deployed. Andy Kessler, writing in the Wall Street Journal, argues that ESG is a loser and that you pay higher expenses for a fund with similar stocks but worse performance. In fact,…